ldin' down this corner of
the Bar-B-8 game, an' one evenin' both of 'em comes squanderin'
in,--ponies a-foam an' faces pale as milk,--an' puts it up they don't
return to that camp no more.

"'Because she's ha'nted,' says one; 'Jim an' me both encounters this
yere banshee an' it's got fire eyes. Also, itse'f and pony is
constructed of bloo flames. You can gamble! I don't want none of it
in mine; an' that's whatever!'

"Any gent can see that these yooths is mighty scared. Enright elicits
their yarn only after pourin' about a quart of nosepaint into 'em.

"It looks like on two several o'casions that a handful of cattle gets
run over a steep bluff from the _mesa_ above. The fall is some sixty
feet in the cl'ar, an' when them devoted cattle strikes the bottom it's
plenty easy to guess they're sech no longer, an' thar's nothin' left of
'em but beef. These beef drives happens each time in the night; an'
the cattle must have been stampeded complete to make the trip. Cattle,
that a-way, ain't goin' to go chargin' over a high bluff none onless
their reason is onhinged. No, the coyotes an' the mountain lions don't
do it; they never chases cattle, holdin' 'em in fear an' tremblin.'
These mountain lions prounces down on colts like a mink on a settin'
hen, but never calves or cattle.

"It's after the second beef killin' when the two riders allows they'll
do some night herdin' themse'fs an' see if they solves these
pheenomenons that's cuttin' into the Bar-B-8.

"'An' it's mebby second drink time after midnight,' gasps the
cow-puncher who's relatin' the adventures, 'an' me an' Jim is
experimentin' along the aige of the _mesa_, when of a suddent thar
comes two steers, heads down, tails up, locoed absoloote they be; an'
flashin' about in the r'ar of 'em rides this flamin' cow-sperit on its
flamin' cayouse. Shore! he heads 'em over the cliff; I hears 'em hit
the bottom of the canyon jest as I falls off my bronco in a fit. As
soon as ever I comes to an' can scramble into that Texas saddle ag'in,
me an' Jim hits the high places in the scenery, in a fervid way, an'
yere we-all be! An' you hear me, gents, I don't go back to that
Bar-B-8 camp no more. I ain't ridin' herd on apparitions; an' whenever
ghosts takes to romancin' about in the cow business, that lets me out.'

"'I reckons,' says Enright, wrinklin' up his brows, 'I'll take a look
into this racket myse'f.'

"'An' if you-all don't mind none, Enright,' says Peets, 'I