Page:Morley roberts--Painted Rock.djvu/28

 "I'll tell you," said Keno. "Mrs. Gedge was lying sick with the worst sort of inflammatory rheumatism, and the doctor was there three times a day, shakin' his head over her as if she'd die. Was I to get into a difficulty in them circumstances? I ask anyone. I took my kickin' like a man, and, when the old lady was through the narrow part of Death Canon, I told her about it, and she said that I was a man, and so I was. And I went out and found Mr. Johnny Cowboy on the plaza, and I pulled my gun and threw it down on the ground before him, and as he started to pull his I jumped him and took it away, and I sat a-straddle on his back and made him ride me round the business block of the town. There was a crowd to see the show, you bet, and on each street I stopped and explained to the crowd that why I hadn't killed him before was all on account of Mrs. Gedge; and, when we done the block, I took my fiery, untamed steed into the nearest saloon and stood him a skinful, because he was the only man who ever had the sand to do as he done. I'm of opinion that Smith had