'Here, I reckon this is near enough. I find in the revised statute
before me, in the killing of a nigger the offending party was fined
five dollars. A Chinaman ought to be half as good as a nigger. Stand
up and receive your sentence. What's your name?'

"'Jerry McKay, your Honor.'

"Just then the court noticed one of the vaqueros belonging to the
ranch standing in the door, hat in hand, and he called to him in
Spanish, 'Have my horse ready, I'll be through here just in a minute.'

"'McKay,' said the court as he gave him a withering look, 'I'll fine
you two dollars and a half and costs. Officer, take charge of
the prisoner until it's paid!' It took about ten dollars to cover
everything, which I paid, McKay returning it when he reached his camp.
Whoever named that alcalde 'Law west of the Pecos' knew his man."

"I'll bet a twist of dog," said Ramrod, "that prisoner with the black
whiskers sabes English. Did you notice him paying strict attention to
Smoky's little talk? He reminds me of a fellow that crouched behind
his horse at the fight we had on the head of the Arroyo Colorado and
plugged me in the shoulder. What, you never heard of it? That's so,
Cushion hasn't been with us but a few months. Well, it was in '82,
down on the river, about fifty miles northwest of Brownsville. Word
came in one day that a big band of horse-thieves were sweeping the
country of every horse they could gather. There was a number of the
old Cortina's gang known to be still on the rustle. When this report
came, it found eleven men in camp. We lost little time saddling up,
only taking five days' rations with us, for they were certain to
recross the river before that time in case we failed to intercept
them. Every Mexican in the country was terrorized. All they could tell
us was that there was plenty of ladrones and lots of horses, 'muchos'
being the qualifying word as to the number of either.

"It was night before we came to their trail, and to our surprise they
were heading inland, to the north. They must have had a contract to
supply the Mexican army with cavalry horses. They were simply sweeping
the country, taking nothing but gentle stock. These they bucked in
strings, and led. That made easy trailing, as each string left a
distinct trail. The moon was splendid that night, and we trailed as
easily as though it had been day. We didn't halt all night long on
either trail, pegging along at a steady gait, that would carry us
inland some dis