Washington, an' out he comes a-fannin' an' a-foggin' over the Southern
Pacific. Of course Tulare didn't know nothin' of this. All it knowed
was how the frawg market was on soarin' wings, and it was feelin' like
a flight o' rawckets. If only there'd been some preparation,--a telegram
or something,--the disaster would never have occurred. But Lorenzo and
Saynt Augustine was that absorbed watchin' each other--for, yu' see, the
Santa Fe and the Southern Pacific come together at Mojave, an' the
two cooks travelled a matter of two hundred an' ten miles in the
same cyar--they never thought about a telegram. And when they arruv,
breathless, an' started in to screechin' what they'd give for the
monopoly, why, them unsuspectin' Tulare boys got amused at 'em. I never
heard just all they done, but they had Lorenzo singin' and dancin',
while Saynt Augustine played the fiddle for him. And one of Lorenzo's
heels did get a trifle grazed. Well, them two cooks quit that ranch
without disclosin' their identity, and soon as they got to a safe
distance they swore eternal friendship, in their excitable foreign way.
And they went home over the Union Pacific, sharing the same stateroom.
Their revenge killed frawgs. The disease--"

"How killed frogs?" demanded Trampas.

"Just killed 'em. Delmonico and Saynt Augustine wiped frawgs off the
slate of fashion. Not a banker in Fifth Avenue'll touch one now if
another banker's around watchin' him. And if ever yu' see a man that
hides his feet an' won't take off his socks in company, he has worked in
them Tulare swamps an' got the disease. Catch him wadin', and yu'll find
he's web-footed. Frawgs are dead, Trampas, and so are you."

"Rise up, liars, and salute your king!" yelled Scipio. "Oh, I'm in love
with you!" And he threw his arms round the Virginian.

"Let me shake hands with you," said the traveller, who had failed to
interest his wife in these things. "I wish I was going to have more of
your company."

"Thank ye', seh," said the Virginian.

Other passengers greeted him, and the Indian chiefs came, saying, "How!"
because they followed their feelings without understanding.

"Don't show so humbled, boys," said the deputy foreman to his most
sheepish crew. "These gentlemen from the East have been enjoying yu'
some, I know. But think what a weary wait they have had hyeh. And you
insisted on playing the game with me this way, yu' see. What outlet did
yu' give me? Didn't I have it to do? And I