gyards, comin' squar' down to cases, ain't no improvement, moral, on
Silver Phil himse'f; an' since they're twice his age--Silver Phil not
bein' more'n twenty--it's safe as a play to say that both of 'em
oughter have been hanged a heap before ever Silver Phil is born. These
two hold-ups, however, turns dep'ty marshals in their old age, an' is
put in to stand watch an' watch an' see that Silver Phil don't work
loose from his hobbles an' go pirootin' off ag'in into parts onknown.
Silver Phil is loaded with fetters,--handcuffs an' laig-locks both--an'
these hold-up sentries is armed to the limit.

"It's the idee of Doc Peets later, when he hears the details, that if
the gyards that time treats Silver Phil with kindness, the little felon
most likely would have remained to be hanged. But they don't: they
abooses Silver Phil; cussin' him out an' herdin' him about like he's
cattle. They're a evil-tempered couple, them dep'ties, an' they don't
give Silver Phil no sort o' peace.

"'As I su'gests yeretofore,' says Doc Peets, when he considers the
case, 'this Silver Phil is a degen'rate. He's like a anamile. He
don't entertain no reg'lar scheme to work free when he waxes sardonic
with the marshal; that's only a bluff. Later, when them gyards takes
to maltreatin' him an' battin' him about, it wakes up the venom in him,
an' his cunnin' gets aroused along with his appetite for revenge.'

"This Silver Phil, who's lean an' slim like I explains at the jump, has
hands no bigger than a cat's paws. It ain't no time when he discovers
that by cuttin' himse'f a bit on the irons, he can shuck the handcuffs
whenever he's disposed. Even then, he don't outline no campaign for
liberty; jest sort o' roominates an' waits.