y pard hev loved the sound of human voice,
then listen an' listen hard," said Monty. "Fer I've been goin' contrary
to my ole style jest to hev a talk with you. You all but got away on
your nerve, didn't you? 'Cause why? You roll in here like a mad steer
an' flash yer badge an' talk mean, then almost bluff away with it.
You heerd all about Miss Hammond's cowboy outfit stoppin' drinkin' an'
cussin' an' packin' guns. They've took on religion an' decent livin',
an' sure they'll be easy to hobble an' drive to jail. Hawe, listen.
There was a good an' noble an be-ootiful woman come out of the East
somewheres, an' she brought a lot of sunshine an' happiness an' new
idees into the tough lives of cowboys. I reckon it's beyond you to know
what she come to mean to them. Wal, I'll tell you. They-all went clean
out of their heads. They-all got soft an' easy an' sweet-tempered. They
got so they couldn't kill a coyote, a crippled calf in a mud-hole. They
took to books, an' writin' home to mother an' sister, an' to savin'
money, an' to gittin' married. Onct they was only a lot of poor cowboys,
an' then sudden-like they was human bein's, livin' in a big world
thet hed somethin' sweet even fer them. Even fer me--an ole, worn-out,
hobble-legged, burned-up cowman like me! Do you git thet? An' you,
Mister Hawe, you come along, not satisfied with ropin' an' beatin', an'
Gaw knows what else, of thet friendless little Bonita; you come
along an' face the lady we fellers honor an' love an' reverence, an'
you--you--Hell's fire!"

With whistling breath, foaming at the mouth, Monty Price crouched lower,
hands at his hips, and he edged inch by inch farther out from the porch,
closer to Hawe and Sneed. Madeline saw them only in the blurred fringe
of her sight. They resembled specters. She heard the shrill whistle of a
horse and recognized Majesty calling her from the corral.

"Thet's all!" roared Monty, in a voice now strangling. Lower and lower
he bent, a terrible figure of ferocity. "Now, both you armed ocifers of
the law, come on! Flash your guns! Throw 'em, an' be quick! Monty Price
is done! There'll be daylight through you both before you fan a hammer!
But I'm givin' you a chanst to sting me. You holler law, an' my way is
the ole law."

His breath came quicker, his voice grew hoarser, and he crouched lower.
All his body except his rigid arms quivered with a wonderful muscular
convulsion.

"Dogs! Skunks! Buzzards! Flash them guns, er I'll flas