7

"You don't blame me, do you, Billy,
If I did go in and stay,
Warming by your stove and fire,
Just to hear what he would say?
I will try to tell his story
As he told it, if I can,
Putting in what I remember
Of his 'interesting plan.'
'Now, then, gal, I heard you calling
As you stood there in the dark,
On a fellow, named Bill Truly,
But you shot 'way off the mark.
Billy ain't here now, and further,
He won't be here, you can bet;
Anyhow, that's what he told me
Two weeks past, when we last met.


8

"'When your folks all skipped the country
I decided I'd move, too;
Thought perhaps you'd get in trouble
And I'd try to help you through;
So I got beyond the posse,
Rode like fire upon your track,
Found your dad, and _you_ not with him,