"You can say all you have to say in that time."

The third Sunday the missionary did not appear. He had found it
necessary to make a swift exit from his domicile, departing by one
door as a sheriff entered by another. He had, it seems, knocked in the
head of one of his parishioners with a hatchet.

Experiences of this sort were not calculated to inspire respect for
the clergy in the minds of the cowpunchers.

"Them preachers," Sylvane subsequently remarked, "broke us fellows
from going to church."

But though religion did not flourish in the alkaline soil of the Bad
Lands, the fundamental American principle of orderly government, based
on the consent of the governed, slowly and with many setbacks took
root. The town of Medora itself began to sober down. Joe Ferris was a
rock of defense for law and order. In disputes, instead of clutching
at the six-shooter, men began to turn to Joe as an arbitrator, knowing
that he was honest and fair and had a sense of humor. Packard,
moreover, had established himself firmly in the respect and affection
of his neighbors, and his reiterations, week after week and month
after month, of certain notions of order and decency, gradually began
to have their effect. The _Cowboy_ became the dominant factor in
Medora's struggle toward maturity.

From out of the blue ether and the whimsical generosity of Fate,
meanwhile, had come an assistant for Packard who gave new zest to his
adventure. His name was Johnny O'Hara, and Packard always insisted
that he came as a gift from the gods.

"In all literature there was only one like him," said Packard in after
days, "and that was Kim. And Kim's name was O'Hara. As chela to Teshoo
Lama, Kim acquired merit. As devil in the _Bad Lands Cowboy_ office,
Johnny acquired a place in my estimation only to be described in the
beatitudes of an inspired writer. Kim went out with his begging-bowl
and he and his Lama feasted bounteously. Johnny boarded passenger
trains with an armful of the _Cowboy_ and returned with enough money
to pay current expenses. Kim played the great game with Strickland
Sahib and attained rupees sufficient for a ride on the tee-rain.
Johnny took the remains of a bunch of bananas I had ordered by express
from St. Paul and sold them for enough to pay for the first and even a
second one. Two banana feasts for nothing, plus a profit! Kim came
from the top of Zam-Zanneh to his chelaship with Teshoo Lama. Johnny
came from the top of Mount Oly