SOME body of men, eh?" he inquired, finally, and Dave
agreed:

"Yes. She's got a grand framework, Blaze. She'll be most as big as Fort
Worth when you fatten her up."

Jones waved his buggy-whip in a wide circle that took in the miles of
level prairie on all sides. "We've got the whole blamed state to grow
in. And, Dave, I haven't got an enemy in the place! It wasn't many
years ago that certain people allowed I'd never live to raise this
town. Why, it used to be that nobody dared to ride with me--except
Paloma, and she used to sleep with a shot-gun at her bedside."

"You sure have been a responsibility to her."

"But I'm as safe now as if I was in church."

Law ventured to remark that none of Blaze's enemies had grown fat in
prosecuting their feuds, but this was a subject which the elder man
invariably found embarrassing, and now he said:

"Pshaw! I never was the blood-letter people think. I'm as gentle as a
sheep." Then to escape further curiosity on that point he suggested
that they round out their riotous evening with a game of pool.

Law boasted a liberal education, but he was no match for the father of
Jonesville, who wielded a cue with a dexterity born of years of
devotion to the game. In consequence, Blaze's enjoyment was in a fair
way to languish when the proprietor of the Elite Billiard Parlor
returned from supper to say:

"Mr. Jones, there's a real good pool-player in town, and he wants to
meet you."

Blaze uttered a triumphant cry. "Get him, quick! Send the brass-band to
bring him. Dave, you hook your spurs over the rung of a chair and watch
your uncle clean this tenderfoot. If he's got class, I'll make him
mayor of the town, for a good pool-shooter is all this metropolis
lacks. Why, sometimes I go plumb to San Antone for a game." He
whispered in his friend's ear, "Paloma don't let me gamble, but if
you've got any dinero, get it down on me." Then, addressing the
bystanders, he proclaimed, "Boys, if this pilgrim is good enough to
stretch me out we'll marry him off and settle him down."

"No chance, Uncle Blaze; he's the most married person in town," some
one volunteered. "His wife is the new dressmaker--and she's got a
mustache." For some reason this remark excited general mirth.

"That's too bad. I never saw but one woman with a mustache, and she
licked me good. If he's yoked up to that kind of a lady, I allow his
nerves will be wrecked before he gets here. I hope to God he ain't
entirely done fo