y mem'ry's assertin'
itse'f, I knows him when he first comes bulgin' into the Pecos Valley,
eighteen years ago. This Original Sin daughter an' her maw don't show
up none till later. Thar's no more innocent form of tenderfoot than
Bark ever comes weavin' into the Southwest. He's that ignorantly
innocent, wild geese is as wise as serpents to him. But he's full of a
painstakin' energy, all the same, an' mighty assidyoous to learn.'

"'Whatever does he turn to?' asks Texas.

"'He hires out to a peach ranch. An' this'll show you how industrious,
that a-way, this Bark tarrapin is. The peach ranch party has a measly
bunch of sheep. He keeps 'em nights in a box-tight board corral, so's
the coyotes can't get to mingle with 'em none. Days he throws 'em
loose to feed. The first evenin' the peach ranch gent tells this yere
Bark to corral the sheep, an' then come in for supper. "An' be shore,"
says the peach ranch party, "you gets 'em all in."

"'An hour goes by, an' the peach ranch party is about through his
feed, when this yere Bark drifts up to the table. His face is flushed,
but he's w'arin' a look of triumph. "I hives 'em," says he, some
exultant; "only one lamb does shore force me to extend myse'f a lot.
I'll gamble I runs a hundred miles before I rounds him up."

"'Next mornin' the peach ranch party goes out to throw loose them
sheep. As he cranes his neck over the corral fence to count the bunch
he's amazed to see a jack-rabbit galumpin' about among 'em. "Gin'ral
Jackson fit the English!" he exclaims; "however does that jack-rabbit
get himse'f mixed in with them sheep?" An' he p'ints it out to Bark.

"'That ontootered person is all astonishment. "Jack-rabbit!" says he.
"Why, I hopes next fall to vote the reepublican ticket an' die
disgraced if I don't put it down for a lamb! That's the anamile which
makes me run my laigs off roundin' of him up!"'

"'Which, as you says, Sam,' reemarks Tutt, signin' up to Black Jack to
set out the bottles, 'in the face of sech a showin' that Bark party
must have been plenty ardent.'

"'I should shore yell!' coincides Boggs.

"'But he learns in time, of course?' questions Nell.

"'Learns, Nellie?' repeats Enright; 'it ain't three years before he
identifies himse'f with the life about him to that degree he bumps off
two kyard sharps who tries to cold-deck him in a poker game, an' finds
besides his steady employment stealin' old John Chisholm's calves,
tharby assistin' in plantin' the t