like the Black Jack specter
becomes intim'dated, an' tries to squar' itse'f.

"'What's that?' Monte asks, after listenin' mighty dignified to the
spook's excuses; 'you begs my pardon? Not another word. If you-all
keeps on talkin' now you'll sp'ile it. Thar's my hand,' givin' the
fingers of the phantom a mighty earnest squeeze. 'I'm your friend, an'
that goes.'

"Havin' established a peace, Monte insists that the Black Jack phantom
b'ar him company to the O. K. Restauraw. In spite of all Missis Rucker
can say or do, he plants the spook at the table, feeds it on the best
that's in the kitchen, an' all as confident as if it's shorely troo.
Also, he insists on payin' for two.

"When Missis Rucker tries to show him he's down wrong, he refooses to
have it that way.

"'Do you-all reckon, Ma'am, that I can't trust my eyes none?' he
demands. 'Which you'll tell me next that them airtights I tops of with
is figments.'

"'But thar's only one of you-all,' Missis Rucker persists.

"'Ma'am,' returns Monte, his manner plumb s'picious, 'I don't jest
quite sense your little game. Whatever it is, however, you-all can't
play it on old Monte. You write back to my fam'ly an' the neighbors,
an' the least flatterin' among 'em'll tell you that I'm as cunnin' as
a squinch owl. Thar's two of us who feeds, an' for two of us I
settles. Bein' a woman, you're too feeble-witted for reason, too
mendacious for trooth.'

"'Don't you go callin' me no woman,' says Missis Rucker, her eyes
snappin', 'onless you're ready to cash in.'

"'Women!' repeats Monte, sort o' addressin' the scenery, but still
plenty cynical, 'what be they except a fleetin' show to man's
deloosion given. Also, thar's nothin' to 'em. You opens their front
door, an' you're in their back yard.'

"Texas has been givin' y'ear to the talk. It's before his Laredo wife
starts ropin' for that divorce; but she's already makin' war medicine,
an' the signs an' signal smokes which p'int to an uprisin' is vis'ble
on every hill. Texas is careful not to let Missis Rucker hear him
none, but as he walks away, he mutters:

"'That ghost-seein' sport's got the treemors, but all the same I
strings with him on them estimates of ladies.'

"Texas is that fav'rably affected about Monte, he talks things over
with Tutt, who himse'f ain't married to Tucson Jennie none as yet.
Them nuptials, an' that onbiased blessin', little Enright Peets Tutt,
who results tharfrom, comes along later.

"'Which th