cases on this yere Mexican till we meets up with a quorum of the committee.Still it's our dooty, an' of course we don't double-deal, nor put back kyards on what's our plain dooty.'
"'What you-all states,' says Enright,'`is to your credit, but I'll tell you.Thar ain't no harm mountin' this marauder on a slow pony that a-way; an' bein' humane s'fficient to leave his hands an' feet ontied.Of course if he takes advantage of our leniency an' goes stampedin' off to make his escape some'ers along the trail, Ireckons you'll shorely have to shoot.Thar's no pass-out then but down him, an' we sadly treads tharin.An',' goes on Enright, some thoughtful, if this yere Mexican, after we-alls is that patient an'
liberal with him, abuses our confidences an' escapes, we leaves it a lone-hand play to you.My eyes is gettin' some old an' off, any way;an' besides, if we three takes to bangin' away simooltaneous, in the ardor of competition some of us might shoot the pony.So if this yere captive runs--which he looks tame, an' I don't expect none he will--we leaves the detainin' of him, Jack, to you entire.""In spite of Enright's faith it shore turns out this Mexican is ornery enough, where the trail skirts the river, to wheel sudden an'
go plungin' across.But Jack gets him in midstream.As he goes over the bronco's shoulder, hat first, he swings on the bridle long enough with his dyin' hand to turn the pony so it comes out ag'in on our side.
"Which I'm glad he lives s'fficient to head that hoss our way,' says jack."It saves splashin' across after him an' wettin' your leggins a lot.""It's that night in camp when jack brings up what Enright says about the time the Mexicans downs a pris'ner, an' tharby fixes his views of 'em.
"'It's a long trail back,' says Enright,' an' I don't like this yarn enough to find myse'f relatin' it to any excessive degrees.It draws the cinch some tight an' painful, an' I don't teach my mind to dwell on it no more'n is necessary.
"'This is all when I'm a boy; mebby I ain't twenty years yet.It's durin' the Mexican war.I gets a stack of white chips an' stands in on the deal in a boyish way.All I saveys of the war is it's ag'in the Mexicans, which, while I ain't got no feud with 'em personal at the time, makes it plenty satisfactory to me.
"'It's down off two days to the west of Chihuahua, an' seven of us is projectin' 'round seein' whatever can we tie down an' brand, when some Mexicans gets us out on a limb.It ain't a squar' deal; still Ireckons it's squar' enough, too; only bein' what you-alls calls strategic, it's offensive an' sneakin' as a play.
"'This yere lieutenant who's leadin' us 'round permiscus, looks like he's some romantic about a young Mexican female, who's called the Princess of Casa Grande.Which the repoote of this yere Princess woman is bad, an' I strikes a story several times of how she's that incensed ag'in Americans she once saws off a thimbleful of loco on a captain in some whiskey he's allowin' to drink, an' he goes plumb crazy an' dies.
"'But loco or no loco, this yere Princess person is shore that good lookin' a pinto pony don't compare tharwith; an' when she gets her black eyes on our lieutenant, that settles it; we rounds up at her hacienda an' goes into camp.
"'Besides the lieutenant thar's six of us.One of 'em's a shorthorn who matches me for age; which his name's Willis--Jim Willis."'Now Iain't out to make no descriptions of the friendship which goes on between this yere Willis an' me.I sees a show one time when I'm pesterin' 'round back in St.Looey--an' I'm yere to remark I don't go that far east no more--which takes on about a couple of sports who's named Damon an' Pythias.Them two people's all right, an' game.An' they shore deems high of one another.But at the time I sees this yere Damon an'
Pythias, I says to myse'f, an' ever since I makes onhesitatin'
assertion tharof, that the brotherly views them two gents entertains ain't a marker to Jim Willis an' me."'This yere Jim I knows since we're yearlin's.We-alls jumps outen the corral together back in Tennessee, an' goes off into this Mexican war like twins.An' bein'
two boys that a-way among a band of men, I allows thar ain't nothin' before, nor then, nor after.which I loves like Jim."'As I observes, Jim an' me's in the outfit when this yere lieutenant comes trackin' 'round that Princess of Casa Grande; which her love for him is a bluff an' a deadfall; an' the same gets all of us before we're through.An' it gets my Jim Willis speshul."Mebby it's the third mornin' after we-alls meanders into this nest of Mexicans, an' the lieutenant gets lined out for that Princess of Casa Grande.We ain't been turnin'
out early nohow, thar bein' nothin'
to turn out about; but this third mornin' somebody arouses us a heap vigorous, like they aims to transact some business with us.Which they shorely does; it's an outfit of Greaser guerillas, an' we-alls ain't nothin' more or less than captives."'The ornery an'
ongrateful part is that the Princess sends one of her own peonies scoutin' 'round in the hills to bring in this band of cattle-eaters onto us."'When the lieutenant hears of the perfidy of the Princess female, he's that mortified he gets a pistol the first jump he makes an' blows off the top of his head; which if he only blows off the top of hers it would have gone a heap further with the rest of us.
If he'd consulted any of us, it would have shorely been advised.But he makes an impulsive play that a-way; an' is that sore an' chagrined he jest grabs a gun in a frenzied way an' cashes his chips abrupt."'No, as I states,' says Enright, musin' to himse'f, 'if the lieutenant had only downed that Princess who plays us in as pris'ners so smooth an' easy, it would have been regarded.He could have gone caperin' over the brink after her with the bridle off the next second, an' we-alls would still talk well of him."'As it is, however, this riotous female don't last two months.
