caught sight of Ike and recognised his companion,
they indulged themselves in various facetious remarks.

"Hello, Ike. Goin' to meetin'?"

"No," retorted Ike shortly. "Goin' to school fer manners. Want to come?"

"Ikey's got religion. Caught on to the fire-escape you bet."

"No, he's goin' to learn that rasslin' trick."

"Ikey's showin' the stranger the town. He's on for a bust, you bet."

"Blank lot of jay birds," said Ike grimly, in a low tone. "I'll see'em
later. You'd think they'd never seen a stranger before."

"That is all for me, I suppose, Ike," said Shock apologetically.

"Don't you worry. It won't give me any grey hair." Ike emphasised his
indifference by tilting his hat till it struck on the extreme back of
his head, and lounging back in his seat with his feet on the dashboard.

"They all seen you givin' me that h'ist this afternoon," he continued,
"and they can't get over that we aint fightin'. And," he added, hitting
the hub of the wheel with a stream of tobacco juice, "it is a rather
remarkable reminiscence."

Ike had a fondness for words not usually current among the cowboys, and
in consequence his English was more or less reminiscent, and often
phonetic rather than etymological.

Ike's shack stood at the further side of the town. Upon entering Shock
discovered that it needed no apology for its appearance. The board
walls were adorned with illustrations from magazines and papers,
miscellaneous and without taint of prejudice, the Sunday Magazine and
the Police Gazette having places of equal honour. On the wall, too,
were nailed heads of mountain sheep and goats, of wapiti and other
deer, proclaiming Ike a hunter.

Everything in the shack was conspicuously clean, from the pots, pans,
and cooking utensils, which hung on a row of nails behind the stove, to
the dish-cloth, which was spread carefully to dry over the dishpan. Had
Shock's experience of bachelors' shacks and bachelors' dishes been
larger, he would have been more profoundly impressed with that cooking
outfit, and especially with the dish-cloth. As it was, the dishcloth
gave Shock a sense of security and comfort.

Depositing the doctor upon a buffalo skin on the floor in the corner,
with a pillow under his head, they proceeded to their duties, Ike to
prepare the evening meal, and Shock to unpack his stuff, wondering all
the while how this cowboy had come to hunt him up and treat him with
such generous hospitality.

This mystery was