ike reachin' to see if
my back hair wasn't comin' down.

Me an' the cow had the time of our life that night. She had missed a
couple o' milkin's, an' didn't seem to care much about resumin'
payment; so I finally had to rope an' tie her, an' milk up hill into a
fruit-jar. Talk about bein' handy? I didn't know but what next day I'd
be doin' some plain sewin', or tuckin' the crust around a vinegar pie.

That night after supper she put the kid to bed an' then came down, an'
we went around nailin' the house up. Finally she showed me where to
flop. It was in her husband's cave, I believe she called it--a little
room full o' books an' pipes an' resty-lookin' furniture. The' was a
big leather bunk, an' that was where I was to get mine. Her room was at
the head of the stairs, an' she had a rope goin' over the transom with
a bell hangin' to it, close in front of my door. The bell was to be my
signal if she heard the Chink attack before I did. Just before she went
upstairs she reached into the bosom of her dress an' fished out a real
revolver, about the size of a watch-charm. She held it in her hand and
looked into my eyes with her lips tight set.

"Are the mosquitoes as bad as that?" sez I.

"I carry this all the time, to defend myself an' child," sez she,
rufflin' up like a hen when you pick up her chicken, an' she was so
earnest about it that I nearly choked, swallerin' a grin; 'cause
honest, I could 'a' snuffed the thing up my nose.

I pulled a long face an' sez to her as solemn as a judge, "Is there
enough food and water in the house to stand a siege, in case the
Chinaman'd pen us up?" Her face grew drawn an' worried until she caught
the twinkle in my eye, an' then she broke into a simile an' tripped
upstairs like a girl. I stood out in the hall a moment lookin' after
her an' I was mighty glad I had come. We was both in need of company;
her mind was a heap easier than it had been that mornin', an' I felt
better than I had for some several days. I couldn't see where Sandy
Fergoson had told me anything that would get me any nearer what Barbie
wanted to know; an' yet I couldn't keep my mind off studyin' over it,
except when I was busy. It was the same with Bill Andrews, an' I was
glad to have some one new to worry over until I got tuned up again.

As soon as she shut an' locked her door, I backed into my stall an'
looked about. The' was some invitin' lookin' books on the wall, an' I
read over the titles, finally selectin'