"An' to cut her short, for obv'ous reasons, it ain't no time before Maverick, claimin' all the onbranded cattle, has herds on herds of 'em; whereas thar's good authority which states that when he makes his bluff about not havin' no brand that time, all the cattle old Maverick has is a triflin' bunch of Mexican steers an' no semblances of cows in his outfit.From which onpromisin', not to say barren, beginnin', Maverick owns thousands of cattle at the end of ten years.It all provokes a heap of merriment an' scorn.An' ever since that day, onmarked an' onbranded cattle is called 'mavericks.' But to go back ag'in to what Jack Moore is remarkin' about this yere outlaw, Woodruff, who's been bustin' away towards Jack with his Winchester.
"'It's a week later,' goes on Jack Moore, 'when I encounters this sport Woodruff in Howard's store over in Tascosa.I stands him up an' asks whatever he's shootin' me up for that day near the Serrita la Cruz.
"'" Which I never sees you nohow," replies this yere Woodruff.
laughin'."I never cuts down on you with no Winchester, for if Idid, I'd got you a whole lot.You bein' yere all petulant an'
irritated is mighty good proof I never is shootin' none at you, But bein' you're new to the Canadian country an' to Texas, let me give you a few p'inters on cow ettyquette an' range manners.Whenever you notes a gent afar off with a fire goin' an' a yearlin' throwed an'
hawg-tied ready to mark up a heap with his own private hieroglyphics, don't you-all go pesterin' 'round him.He ain't good company, sech a gent ain't.Don't go near him.It's ag'in the law in Texas to brand calves lonely an' forlorn that a-way, without stoppin' to herd 'em over to some well-known corral, an' the punishment it threatens, bein' several years in Huntsville, makes a gent when he's violatin' it a heap misanthropic, an' he don't hunger none for folks to come ridin' up to see about whatever he reckons he's at.Mebby later them visitors gets roped up before a co't, or jury, to tell whatever they may know.So, as I says, an' merely statin' a great trooth in Texas ettyquette, yereafter on beholdin' a fellow-bein' with a calf laid out to mark, don't go near him a little bit.It's manners to turn your back onto him an' ignore him plumb severe.He's a crim'nal, an' any se'f-respectin' gent is jestified in refoosin' to affiliate with him.Wherefore, you ride away from every outcast you tracks up ag'inst who is engaged like you says this onknown party is the day he fetches loose his Winchester at you over by the Serrita la Cruz.""That's what this Woodruff says," concloodes Jack, windin' up his interruption, "about what's manners in Texas; an' when it's made explicit that away, I sees the force of his p'sition.Woodruff an'
me buys nose-paint for each other, shakes hearty, an' drops the discussion.But it shorely comes to this: manners, as Texas declar's, is sometimes born of geography, an' what goes for polish an' the p'lite play in St.Looey may not do none for Texas.'
"'Mighty likely,' says Old Man Enright, 'what Texas Thompson an'
Jack Moore interjecks yere is dead c'rrect; but after all this question about what's manners is 'way to one side of the main trail.
I tharfore su'gests at this crisis that Black Jack do his best with a bottle, an' when every gent has got his p'ison, Dave Tutt proceeds for'ard with the killin' of this Jack Rainey.' "'Goin' on as to said Rainey,' observes Tutt, followin' them remarks of Enright, 'as Iexplains when Texas an' Moore runs me down with them interestin'
outbreaks, Rainey gets ag'inst it over in a jimcrow camp called Lido; an' this yere is a long spell ago."'Rainey turns in an'
charters every bar in Lido, an' gets his brand onto all the nose-paint.He's out to give the camp an orgy, an' not a gent can spend a splinter or lose a chip to any bar for a week.Them's Jack Rainey's commands.A sport orders his forty drops, an' the barkeep pricks it onto a tab; at the end of a week Jack Rainey settles all along the line, an' the "saturnalia," as historians calls 'em, is over.Imight add that Jack Rainey gives way to these yere charities once a year, an the camp of Lido is plumb used tharto an' approves tharof.
"'On this sad o'casion when Jack Rainey gets killed, this yore excellent custom he invents is in full swing.Thar's notices printed plenty big, an' posted up in every drink-shop from the dance hall to the Sunflower saloon; which they reads as follows RUIN! RUIN! RUIN!
CUT LOOSE!
JACK RAINEY MAKES GOOD
ALL DRINKS
FOR
ONE WEEK.NAME YOUR POISON!
"'At this yere time, it's about half through Jack Rainey's week, an' the pop'lace of Lido, in consequence, is plumb happy an'
content.They're holdin' co't at the time; the same bein' the first jestice, legal, which is dealt out in Lido.'
"'An' do you--all know,' puts in Dan Boggs, who's listenin' to Tutt, 'I'm mighty distrustful of co'ts.You go to holdin' of 'em, an' it looks like everybody gets wrought up to frenzy ontil life where them forums is held ain't safe for a second.I shall shorely deplore the day when a co't goes to openin' its game in Wolfville.It's "adios"to liberty an' peace an' safety from that time.'
