horn-toad has Tex been doin'?"




CHAPTER THREE

JOHNNY GOES GAILY ENOUGH TO SINKHOLE


Johnny Jewel, moved by the fluctuating determination of the young, went
to bed that night fully resolved that he would not quit a good job just
because untoward circumstance compelled him to herd with a bunch of
brainless clowns. He, who had a definite aim in life, would not permit
that aim to be turned aside because various and sundry roughneck punchers
thought it was funny to go around yelping like a band of coyotes. Mary V,
too--he did not neglect to include Mary V. Indeed, much of his
determination to remain was born of his desire to crush that insolent
young woman with polite, pitying toleration.

Even when the boys trooped in and began to compose what they believed to
be rhymes, Johnny did not weaken. He turned his face to the wall and
ignored them. Poor simps, what more could you expect? They went so far as
to attempt some poetizing on the subject of Johnny's downfall in the
corral, but no one seemed able to eliminate the word bronk at the end
of the first line, "_Johnny tried to ride a bronk._" No one seemed able,
either, to find any rhyme but honk. They tried ker-plunk, and although
that seemed to answer the purpose fairly well, they were far from
satisfied.