登陆注册
5377300000024

第24章

THE MAN FROM RED DOG.

"Let me try one of them thar seegyars."

It was the pleasant after-dinner hour, and I was on the veranda for a quiet smoke.The Old Cattleman had just thrown down his paper; the half-light of the waning sun was a bit too dim for his eyes of seventy years.

"Whenever I beholds a seegyar," said the old fellow, as he puffed voluminously at the principe I passed over, "I thinks of what that witness says in the murder trial at Socorro.

"'What was you-all doin' in camp yourse'f,' asks the jedge of this yere witness, 'the day of the killin'?'

"'Which,' says the witness, oncrossin' his laigs an' lettin' on he ain't made bashful an' oneasy by so much attentions bein' shown hire, 'which I was a-eatin' of a few sardines, a-drinkin' of a few drinks of whiskey, a-smokin' of a few seegyars, an' a-romancin'

'round.'"

After this abrupt, not to say ambiguous reminiscence, the Old Cattleman puffed contentedly a moment.

"What murder trial was this you speak of?" I asked."Who had been killed?""Now I don't reckon I ever does know who it is gets downed," he replied."This yere murder trial itse'f is news to me complete.They was waggin' along with it when I trails into Socorro that time, an'

I merely sa'nters over to the co't that a-way to hear what's goin'

on.The jedge is sorter gettin' in on the play while I'm listenin'.

"'What was the last words of this yere gent who's killed?' asks the jedge of this witness.

"'As nearly as I keeps tabs, jedge,' says the witness, `the dyin'

statement of this person is: "Four aces to beat."'

"'Which if deceased had knowed Socorro like I does,' says the jedge, like he's commentin' to himse'f, 'he'd shorely realized that sech remarks is simply sooicidal.'"Again the Old Cattleman relapsed into silence and the smoke of the principe.

"How did the trial come out?" I queried."Was the accused found guilty?""Which the trial itse'f," he replied, "don't come out.Thar's a passel of the boys who's come into town to see that jestice is done, an' bein' the round-up is goin' for'ard at the time, they nacherally feels hurried an' pressed for leesure.Theyalls oughter be back on the range with their cattle.So the fifth day, when things is loiterin' along at the trial till it looks like the law has hobbles on, an' the word goes round it's goin' to be a week yet before the jury gets action on this miscreant who's bein' tried, the boys becomes plumb aggravated an' wearied out that a-way; an', kickin' in the door of the calaboose, they searches out the felon, swings him to a cottonwood not otherwise engaged, an' the right prevails.

Nacherally the trial bogs down right thar."After another season of silence and smoke, the Old Cattleman struck in again.

"Speakn' of killin's, while I'm the last gent to go fosterin' idees of bloodshed, I'm some discouraged jest now by what I've been readin' in that paper about a dooel between some Eytalians, an' it shorely tries me the way them aliens plays hoss.It's obvious as stars on a cl'ar night, they never means fight a little bit.Iabhors dooels, an' cowers from the mere idee.But, after all, business is business, an' when folks fights 'em the objects of the meetin' oughter be blood.But the way these yere European shorthorns fixes it, a gent shorely runs a heap more resk of becomin' a angel abrupt, attendin' of a Texas cake-walk in a purely social way.

"Do they ever fight dooels in the West? Why, yes--some.My mem'ry comes a-canterin' up right now with the details of an encounter Ionce beholds in Wolfville.Thar ain't no time much throwed away with a dooel in the Southwest.The people's mighty extemporaneous, an'

don't go browsin' 'round none sendin' challenges in writin', an'

that sort of flapdoodle.When a gent notices the signs a-gettin'

about right for him to go on the war-path, he picks out his meat, surges up, an' declar's himse'f.The victim, who is most likely a mighty serious an' experienced person, don't copper the play by makin' vain remarks, but brings his gatlin' into play surprisin'.

Next it's bang! bang! bang! mixed up with flashes an' white smoke, an' the dooel is over complete.The gent who still adorns our midst takes a drink on the house, while St.Peter onbars things a lot an'

arranges gate an' seat checks with the other in the realms of light.

That's all thar is to it.The tide of life ag'in flows onward to the eternal sea, an' nary ripple.

"Oh, this yere Wolfville dooel! `Well, it's this a-way.The day is blazin' hot, an' business layin' prone an' dead--jest blistered to death.A passel of us is sorter pervadin' 'round the dance-hall, it bein' the biggest an' coolest store in camp.A monte game is strugglin' for breath in a feeble, fitful way in the corner, an'

some of us is a-watchin'; an' some a-settin' 'round loose a-thinkin'; but all keepin' mum an' still, 'cause it's so hot.

"Jest then some gent on a hoss goes whoopin' up the street a-yellin'

an' a-whirlin' the loop of his rope, an' allowin' generally he's havin' a mighty good time.

"'Who's this yere toomultuous man on the hoss?' says Enright, a-regardin' of him in a displeased way from the door.

"'I meets him up the street a minute back,' says Dan Boggs, 'an' he allows he's called "The Man from Red Dog." He says he's took a day off to visit us, an' aims to lay waste the camp some before he goes back.'

"About then the Red Dog man notes old Santa Rosa, who keeps the Mexican baile hall, an' his old woman, Marie, a-fussin' with each other in front of the New York Store.They's locked horns over a drink or somethin', an' is pow-wowin' mighty onamiable.

"'Whatever does this yere Mexican fam'ly mean,' says the Red Dog man, a-surveyin' of 'em plenty scornful, 'a-draggin' of their domestic brawls out yere to offend a sufferin' public for? Whyever don't they stay in their wickeyup an' fight, an' not take to puttin'

it all over the American race which ain't in the play none an' don't thirst tharfor? However, I unites an' reeconciles this divided household easy.'

同类推荐
热门推荐
  • 时光不老,一切都还来得及

    时光不老,一切都还来得及

    世界的各个角落都有着不是过来人却又即将成为过来人的人。过来人是什么样子的,他们都有哪些私密的隐事,他们是如何跨过人生艰难的河流,他们经历了哪些刻骨铭心、囧事连天、痛定思痛、愉悦幸福、孤独落寞、沉迷成长的成长轨迹…….过来人,而今活在当下的人,有勇气和智慧开创美好未来的人,尽管在他们的成长岁月里,曾流淌着愁、恨、痴、缠、狂、迷、囧……的血液因子,如今变得成熟的他们变得睿智、从容。本书通过作者专访几十位过来人,将他们过往的隐秘故事真诚、真实的呈现,这些隐秘的故事,就像人生中的基石,它拥簇着我们不断的前行,直到回归生命的本质,然后幸福地活在当下。
  • 觚不觚录

    觚不觚录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 左忠毅公集

    左忠毅公集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 繁瑾余笙

    繁瑾余笙

    处于学生时代的我们,总会有属于少年时代的青涩。懵懂的情愫。时光变迁,我们……会变吗?“你好,我叫余帆”“顾瑾笙”白驹过隙,我们早已被社会磨平了棱角。不变却是我们的心。“余帆...你走吧,趁我还没有后悔。”“瑾笙,我...”
  • 处事绝学(下)

    处事绝学(下)

    《处世绝学》以通俗易懂的语言,清新简明的笔调,囊括了为人、处事、修身、养性、从政、治家、经商、聚财智慧之大成,汇天地之秘籍,掘经史之精华,发宇宙之宏机,可谓是治世、处世、劝世、醒世之宝鉴;修身、养性、养生、应酬之真经;为官、教子、经商、决策之秘诀;解难、佛道、风水、观人之妙术。既注重理论本身,又注重阐述具体的方法,简单明了,行之有效。只要您遵循这些法则和秘诀,并加以灵活运用,必能事半功倍,以最小的付出取得最丰硕的成果,从而在您整个人生战场上进退得体,坐拥成功。
  • 家庭教育与儿童智商情商开发

    家庭教育与儿童智商情商开发

    本书吸收了近年来心理学在家庭教育方面的科研成果,以让孩子学会学习、开发儿童的智商和情商为主线,详细地介绍了家庭教育的方法和家庭教育中应注意的问题等。
  • 趣谈修辞

    趣谈修辞

    每一朵花,都是一个春天,盛开馥郁芬芳;每一粒沙,都是一个世界,搭建小小天堂;每一颗心,都是一盏灯光,把地球村点亮!借助图书为你的生活添一丝色彩。本丛书是为有一定汉语基础的青少年学习汉语言和汉文化而编写的读物。近年来,越来越多的人学习汉语,人们也希望更多地了解中国和中国文化。中国是一个历史悠久的国家,中华文化博大而精深,不可能一下子讲全,本书希望通过逻辑、写作、修辞、文化等多个方面,带领青少年进入中华文化的广大天地,初步了解中华文化的点点滴滴,在编撰过程中,力求做到趣味性、知识性和实用性相结合,使人们在轻松愉悦中阅读。
  • 做单位欢迎的员工

    做单位欢迎的员工

    职工素质教育是指对企业职工从事职业所必需的知识、技能和职业道德等方面进行教育培训,因此也称为职业技术教育或实业教育。其目的是培养现代企业所必需的学习型、知识型和技能型的员工,因此非常侧重于实践技能和实际工作能力的培养。
  • 妇人带下门

    妇人带下门

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 一指流年错染红尘芳华

    一指流年错染红尘芳华

    当历经自己莫名其妙的嫁人,无意间得知父母的死因,知道被自己最爱的人和好朋友的联手设计。哥哥的惨死,爷爷的死不瞑目,家族的覆灭,一夕之间大祁第一美女白芷荞由众星拱月的大小姐变成了死无葬身之地的瑾王妃。从乱葬岗里爬出来,她化身为地狱的恶鬼卷土重来,跟所有人清算着曾经欠她的债,誓要踏着所有陷她于不义的人的尸骨让自己站在世界的最高点。原本以为自己会在复仇的路上一去不返,却始终有他一路相随。