"As I remarks yeretofore it's as well Jack Moore ain't thar. Jack
would have corralled something more momentous than a toe. Which Jack
would have been shootin' in his capac'ty as marshal, an' couldn't onder
sech circumstances have stooped to toes. But it's different with Dan.
He is present private an' only idlin' 'round; an' he ain't driven to
take high ground. More partic'lar since Dan's playin' a return game in
the nacher of reproofs an' merely to resent the onlicensed liberties
which Red Dog takes with him, Dan, as I says, is free to accept toes if
he so decides.

"When Dan busts this yere inebriate, the victim lams loose a yell
ag'inst which a coyote would protest. That sot thinks he's shore
killed. What with the scare an' the pain an' the nosepaint, an'
regyardin' of himse'f as right then flutterin' about the rim of
eternity, he gets seized with remorse an' allows he's out to confess
his sins before he quits. As thar's no sky pilot to confide in, this
drunkard figgers that Peets 'll do, an' with that he onloads on Peets
how, bein' as he is a stage book-keep over in Red Dog, he's in cahoots
with a outfit of route agents an' gives 'em the word when it's worth
while to stand-up the stage. An' among other crim'nal pards of his
this terrified person names that outlaw Silver Phil. Shore, when he
rounds to an' learns it ain't nothin' but a toe, this party's chagrined
to death.

"This yere confidin' sport's arrested an' taken some'ers--Prescott
mebby--to be tried in a shore-enough co't for the robberies; the Red
Dog Stranglers not bein' game to butt in an' hang him a lot themse'fs.
They surrenders him to the marshal who rides over for him; an' they
would have turned out Silver Phil, too, only that small black outcast
don't wait, but goes squanderin' off to onknown climes the moment he