ow-fork in both y'ears--which brands seventeen hundred calves
each spring round-up; an' is moreover proprietor of the Abe Lincoln
Hotel, the same bein' Red Dog's principal beanery. Bland don't have to
keep this yere tavern none, but it arranges so he sees his friends an'
gets their _dinero_ at one an' the same time, which as combinin'
business an' pleasure in equal degrees appeals to him a heap.

"Which it's the gen'ral voice that the best thing about Bland is his
wife. She's shore loyal to Bland, you bet! When they're livin' in
Prescott, an' a committee of three from one of them 'Purification Of
The Home' societies comes trapesin' in, to tell her about Bland bein'
ondooly interested in a exyooberant young soobrette who's singin' at
the theayter, an' spendin' his money on her mighty permiscus, Missis
Bland listens plenty ca'm ontil they're plumb through. Then she hands
them Purifiers this:

"'Well, ladies, I'd a heap sooner have a husband who can take keer of
two women than a husband who can't take keer of one.'

"After which she comes down on that Purification bunch like a fallin'
star, an' brooms 'em out of the house. Accordin' to eye witnesses, who
speaks without prejewdyce, she certainly does dust their bunnets
strenuous.

"When Bland hears he pats Missis Bland on the shoulder, an' exclaims,
'Thar's my troo-bloo old Betsy Jane! She knows I wouldn't trade a look
from them faded old gray eyes of hers for all the soobretts whoever
pulls a frock on over their heads!'

"Followin' which encomium Bland sends to San Francisco an' changes in
the money from five hundred steers for an outfit of diamonds, to go
'round her neck, an' preesents 'em to Missis Bland.

"'Thar,' he says, danglin' them gewgaws in the sun, 'you don't notice
no actresses flittin' about the scene arrayed like that, do you? If
so, p'int out them over-bedecked females, an' I'll see all they've got
on an' go 'em five thousand better, if it calls for every 7-bar-D
steer on the range.'

"'Pete,' says Missis Bland, clampin' on to the jooelry with one hand,
an' slidin' the other about his neck, 'you certainly are the kindest
soul who ever makes a moccasin track in Arizona, besides bein' a good
provider.'

"Shore, this yere Bland ain't so plumb bad.

"An' after a fashion, too, he's able to give excooses. Talkin' to
Peets, he lays his rather light an' frisky habits to him bein' a
preacher's son.

"'Which you never, Doc,' he says, 'meets up with the so