第13章

"This yere brings things down to cases.Enright is worried sick at it.But he's been thinkin' mighty arduous for quite a spell, an'

when Boggs gets creased, he sees somethin' must be done, an' begins to line himse'f for a play for out.

"It's the next day after Boggs gets ag'in Tutt, an' Doc Peets has plugged up the hole, when Enright rounds up the whole passel of us in the Red Light.He looks that dignified an' what you-alls calls impressive, that the barkeep, yieldin' to the gravity of the situation, allows the drinks is on the house.We-alls gets our forty drops, an' sorter stands pat tharon in silence, waitin' for Enright to onfold his game.We shore knows if thar's a trail he'll find it.

"'I Gents,' he says at last,--an' it seems like he's sorry an' hurt that a-way,--'I'll not drift into them harrowin' differences which has rent asunder what was aforetimes the peacefullest camp in Arizona.I wants you-alls, however, to take note of my remarks, for what I says is shorely goin' to go.'

"Yere Enright pauses to take a small drink by himse'f, while we-alls tarries about, some oneasy an' anxious as to what kyards falls next.

At last Enright p'ints out on the trail of his remarks ag'in.

"'It is with pain an' mortification,' he says--an' yere he fixes his eye some hard an' delib'rate on a young tenderfoot named French, who's been lost from the States somethin' like six months--'it is with pain an' mortification, I says, that I notes for a week past our young friend an' townsman, Willyum French, payin' marked an'

ondiscreet attentions to Benson Annie, a female person whom we all respects.At all times, day an' night, when he could escape his dooties as book-keep for the stage company, he has pitched camp in her s'ciety.Wolfville has been shocked, an' a pure lady compromised.Standin' as we-alls does in the light of a parent to this pore young female, we have determined the wrong must be made right, an' Mister French must marry the girl.I have submitted these yere views to Benson Annie, an' she concurs.I've took the trouble to bring a gospel-sharp over from Tucson to do the marryin', an'

I've set the happy event for to-night, to conclood with a blow-out in the dance-hall at my expense.We will, of course, yereby lose Benson Annie in them industrial walks she now adorns, for I pauses to give Mister French a p'inter; the sentiments of this camp is ag'in a married female takin' in washin'.Not to play it too low down on Mister French, who, while performin' a private dooty, is also workin' for a public good, I heads a subscription with fifty dollars for a present for the bride.I'd say in closin' that if Iwas Mister French I wouldn't care to object to this union.The lady is good-lookin', the subscription is cash, an' in the present heated condition of the public mind, an' with the heart of the camp set on this weddin', I wouldn't be responsible if he does.Now, gents, who'll follow my fifty dollars with fifty more? Barkeep, do your dooty while the subscription-paper goes 'round.'

"The biddin' is mighty lively, an' in ten minutes seven hundred dollars is raised for a dowry.Then French, who has been settin' in a sort of daze, gets up:

"'Mister Enright an' gents,' he says, `this yere is a s'prise-party to me, but it goes.It's a hoss on me, but I stands it.I sees how it is, an' as a forced play I marries Benson Annie in the interests of peace.Which the same bein' settled, if Benson Annie is yere, whirl her up an' I'll come flutterin' from my perch like a pan of milk from a top shelf, an' put an end to this onhealthful excitement.

"We-alls applauds French an' is proud to note he's game.

"`An' to be free an' open with you, French,' says Texas Thompson, so as to make him feel he's ahead on the deal; which he shore is, for this yere Benson Annie is corn-fed, 'if it ain't for a high-sperited lady back in Laredo who relies on me, I'd be playin' your hand myse'f.'

"Well, no one delays the game.Enright brings over Benson Annie, who's blushin' some, but ain't holdin' back; an' she an' French fronts up for business.This yere preacher-sharp Enright's roped up is jest shufflin' for the deal, when, whatever do you reckon takes place? I'm a Mexican if this yere Sal don't come wanderin' in, a-cryin' an' a-mournin' powerful.She allows with sobs if her dear friend Annie's goin' to get married she wants in on the game as bridesmaid.

"'Which you-all shorely gets a hand as sech,' says Doc Peets, who's actin' lookout for the deal; an' so he stakes out Sal over by the nigh side of Benson Annie, who kisses her quite frantic, an' unites her wails to Sal's.Both of 'em weepin' that a-way shorely makes the occasion mighty sympathetic an' damp.But Peets says it's the reg'lar caper, an' you can gamble Peets knows."'Thar,' says Enright, when the last kyard's out an' the French fam'ly is receivin' congratulations, 'I reckons that now, with only one laundry, Wolfville sees a season of peace.It's all right, but I'm yere to remark that the next lady as dazzles this camp with her deebut, an' onfurls a purpose to plunge into work, ain't goin' to keep a laundry none.Gents, the bridle's plumb off the hoss.We'll now repair to the dance-hall, if so be meets your tastes, an' take the first steps in a debauch from which, when it's over, this yere camp of Wolfville dates time.'"