The bearers of the body deposited it gently on the floor, and the crowd
filed in quietly.

Lynn Taps walked up to the bar, and rapped upon it.

"Walk up, boys," said he; "fill high; hats off. Here's Codago. Maybe he
_didn't_ have a soul, but if he _didn't_, souls ain't needed in this
world. Buttoms up, every man."

The toast was drunk quietly and reverently, and when it was suggested
that the Greasers themselves should have participated, they were all
summoned, and the same toast was drank again.

The next day, as the body of Codago was being carried to a newly dug
grave, on the high ground overlooking the creek, and the Mexicans stood
about, as if dumb staring and incessant smoking were the only
proprieties to be observed on such occasions, Lynn Taps thoughtfully
offered his arm to the weeping widow, and so sorrowful was she
throughout the performance of the sad rites, that Lynn Taps was heard to
remark that, however it might be with the men, there could be no doubt
about Mexican women's possessing souls. As a few weeks later the widow
became Mrs. Lynn Taps, there can be no doubt that her second husband's
final convictions were genuine.




THE LAST PIKE AT JAGGER'S BEND