Beth Norvell

"It wus about the durndest fight as ever I see," explained Bill Hicks

confidentially to a group of his cronies in the bar-room of the

Poodle-Dog, while he tossed down a glass of red liquor, and shook the

powdered snowflakes from his bearskin coat. "He wus a sorter slim,

long-legged chap, thet young actor feller I showed the trail down ter

Bolton ter, an' he scurcely spoke a word all durin' thet whol' blame

ride. Search me, gents, if I c'd git either head er tail outer jist

whut he wus up to, only thet he proposed ter knock ther block off some

feller if he had the good luck ter ketch 'im. Somehow, I reckoned he

'd be mighty likely ter perform the job, the way his jaw set an' his

eyes flared. Leastwise, I didn't possess no rip-roarin' ambition fer

ter be thet other feller. Still, I didn't suppose he was no whirlwind."

Bill mechanically held out his drained glass, and, warming up somewhat,

flung his discarded overcoat across a vacant bench, his eyes beginning

to glow with reawakened enthusiasm.

"But, by gory, he wus! He wus simply chain lightnin', thet kid, an'

the way he handed out his dukes wus a sight fer sore eyes. I got onto

the facts sorter slow like, neither of us bein' much on the converse,

but afore we hed reached Bolton I managed to savvy the most of it. It

seems thet feller Albrecht--the big, cock-eyed cuss who played Damon,

ye recollect, gents--wus the boss of the show. He wus the Grand Moke,

an' held the spuds. Well, he an' thet one they call Lane jumped the

ore train last night, carryin' with 'em 'bout all the specie they'd

been corrallin' fer a week past, and started hot-foot fer Denver,

intendin' ter leave all them other actor people in the soup. This yere

lad hed got onter the racket somehow, an' say, he wus plumb mad; he wus

too damn mad ter talk, an' when they git thet fur gone it's 'bout time

fer the innocent spectator ter move back outen range. So he lassoed me

down at Gary's barn fer ter show him the ol' trail, an' we had one hell

of a night's ride of it.

But, gents, I would n't o' missed bein' thar

fer a heap. It was a great scrape let me tell you. We never see hide

ner hair of thet Albrecht or his partner till jist afore the main-line

train pulled in goin' north. The choo-choo wus mighty nigh two hours

late, so it wus fair daylight by then, an' we got a good sight o' them

two fellers a-leggin' it toward the station from out the crick bottom,

whar they 'd been layin' low. They wus both husky-lookin' bucks, an' I

was sufficient interested by then ter offer ter sorter hold one of 'em

while the kid polished off the other. But Lord! that wan't his style,

no how, and he just politely told me ter go plumb ter hell, an' then

waltzed out alone without nary a gun in his fist. He wus purty white

round the lips, but I reckon it wus only mad, fur thar wus n't nothin'

weak about his voice, an' the way he lambasted thet thief wus a caution

ter snakes. Say, I 've heerd some considerable ornate language in my

time, but thet kid had a cinch on the dictionary all right, an' he read

them two ducks the riot act good an' plenty. Thet long-legged Lane, he

did n't have no sand, an' hung back and did n't say much, but the other

feller tried every sneakin' trick a thief knows, only he bucked up agin

a stone wall every time. Thet young feller just simply slathered him;

he called him every name I ever heerd, an' some considerable others,

an' finally, when the train was a-pullin' in, the cuss unlimbered his

wad, an' began peelin' off the tens an' twenties till I thought the

whole show wus over fer sure. But Lord! I didn't know thet kid--no

more did thet Albrecht."