own and fussing over his layout of guns.

For a cold fact, there was a right smart chance that Hart's
nephew--and 'specially because his fool luck made most things come to
him contrary--really might run himself into a hold-up; and, if he did,
it was like as not his chips might get called in. For all Hill's
funny talk about meeting nothing worse'n burros and cotton-tail
rabbits, that road was a bad road--and things was liable to occur.
Hill himself was taking his chances, and he blame well knowed it,
every day. But it was the sense of the meeting that if a hold-up of
that coach attended by fatalities was coming, it couldn't come at a
better time than when Hart's nephew was on the box--the feeling being
general that Hart's nephew was one that could be spared. I guess Bill
Hart felt just the same about it as the rest of us--leastways, he
didn't strain himself any trying to keep his nephew home.

* * * * *

Things went kind of nervous that day at Palomitas. All the boys seemed
to have a feeling, somehow, there was going to be happenings; and we
all just sort of idled round waiting for 'em--taking more drinks 'n
usual, and in spite of the drinks getting every minute lower and lower
in our minds. Except the day Hart's aunt spent with him, and Santa Fe
Charley run the kindergarten, I reckon it was the quietest day we ever
went through--at least till we got along to the clean-up that turned
Palomitas into what some of us felt was a blame sight too much of a
Sunday-school town.

One reason why we all was so serious was because the Sage-Brush
Hen--who started most of what happened--didn't show up as usual; and
all hands got a real jolt when some of the boys went off to the Forest
Queen to ask about her, and old Tenderfoot Sal told 'em she was laying
down in her room and wasn't feeling well. The Hen being always an
out-and-out hustler, and hard as an Indian pony, her not being well
shook us up bad. Everybody was friends with her, same as she was
friends with everybody--even when she got into one of her tantrums,
and took to jawing you, you couldn't help liking her--and knowing she
wasn't feeling like she ought to feel put a big lot more of a damper
on all hands. So we just kept on taking drinks and getting miserabler
with 'em--and feeling all the time surer something was coming bouncing
out at us from round the corner, and wondering what kind of a stir-up
we was likely to have.

It w