Wolfville | Page 6

this habit is primar'ly the cause of his bein' garnered in. I hopes he'll
get along thar, an' offers a side bet, even money, up to five hundred
dollars, he will. He may alter his system an' stand way up with the
angels an' seraphs, an' if words from me could fix it, I'd shorely stack
'em in. I would say further that after consultin' with Billy Burns, who
keeps the Red Light, we has, in honor of the dead an' to mark the
occasion of his cashin' in, agreed upon a business departure of interest
to all. This departure Mister Burns will state. I mournfully gives way to
him for said purpose.'
"'Mister Peets, an' ladies an' gents,' says Burns, 'like Mister Hamilton,
who I'm proud to meet yere as gent, citizen, an' friend, I knows
deceased. He's a good man, an' a dead-game sport from 'way back. A
protracted wrastle with the remorseless drinks of the frontier had begun
to tell on him, an' for a year or so he's been liable to have spells.
Referrin' to the remarks of Mister Hamilton, I states that by agreement
between us an' in honor to departed, the quotations on whiskey in this
yere camp, from now on, will be two drinks for two bits, instead of one
as previous. We don't want to onsettle trade, an' we don't believe this
will. We makes it as a ray of light in the darkness an' gloom of the

hour.
"After this yere utterance, which is well received, we forms the
procession. Doc Peets, with two buglers from the Fort, takes the lead,
with Jack an' his box in one of the stage coaches comin' next. Enright,
Tutt, Boggs, Short Creek Dave, Texas Thompson, an' me, bein' the six
pallbearers, is on hosses next in line; an' Jack Moore commandin' of the
rest of the outfit, lines out permiscus.
"'This is a great day for Wolfville," says Peets, as he rides up an' down
the line. 'Thar ain't no camp this side of St. Looey could turn this trick.
Which I only wishes Jack could see it himse'f. It's more calculated to
bring this outfit into fav'rable notice than a lynchin'.'
"At the grave we turns in an' gives three cheers for King, an' three for
Doc Peets; an' last we gives three more an' a tiger for the camp. The
buglers cuts loose everythin' they knows, from the 'water- call' to the
'retreat,' an' while the niggers is a-shovelin' in the sand we bangs away
with our six-shooters for general results delightful. You can gamble
thar ain't been no funeral like it before or since.
"At the last Peets hauls outen the stage we uses for Jack, a headboard.
When it's set up it looks like if Jack ain't satisfied, he's shorely hard to
suit. On it in big letters is:
JaCK KinG LIfE AiN'T IN HOLDiNG A GOOD HAND BUT In
PLAYiNG A PORE HANd WeLL.
"'You sees, we has to work in a little sentiment,' says Doc Peets.
"Then we details the niggers to stand watch-an'-watch every night till
further orders. No; we ain't afraid Jack'll get out none, but the coyotes
is shore due to come an' dig for him, so the niggers has to stand gyard.
We don't allow to find spec'mens of Jack spread 'round loose after all
the trouble we takes."

CHAPTER II.

THE STINGING LIZARD.
"Thar's no sorter doubt to it," said the Old Cattleman after a long pause
devoted to meditation, and finally to the refilling of his cob pipe, "thar
ain't the slightest room for cavil but them ceremonies over Jack King,
deceased, is the most satisfactory pageant Wolfville ever promotes."
It was at this point I proved my cunning by saying nothing. I was
pleased to hear the old man talk, and rightly theorized that the better
method of invoking his reminiscences just at this time was to say never
a word.
"However," he continued, "I don't reckon it's many weeks after we
follows Jack to the tomb, when we comes a heap near schedoolin'
another funeral, with the general public a-contributin' of the corpse. To
be speecific, I refers to a occasion when we-alls comes powerful close
to lynchin' Cherokee Hall.
"I don't mind on bosomin' myself about it. It's all a misonderstandin';
the same bein' Cherokee's fault complete. We don't know him more'n to
merely drink with at that eepock, an' he's that sly an' furtive in his plays,
an' covers his trails so speshul, he nacherally breeds sech suspicions
that when the stage begins to be stood up reg'lar once a week, an' all
onaccountable, Cherokee comes mighty close to culminatin' in a rope.
Which goes to show that you can't be too open an' free in your game,
an'