ain't nothing more to be said."

"Just so. That there old settler, I have crossed a few words with
him, and I believe he would do noble to travel with. He's as gruff
and growly as a grizzly bear if you say a word to him, and if he'll
just turn all that temper he's vented on me on to any strangers we
may run up against on the trail, he'll do invaluable."

"I'll go catch up the pony," said Lahoma briefly, "for I see the
thing is to be did. This will be the first visit I ever made in my
life when I wasn't drug by the Injuns."

"You mustn't say 'drug,' honey, unless specifying medicines and
herbs. I ain't saying you didn't get it from me, and knowing you
do get from me all I got, is what makes me hone for them books.
You must say 'dragged.' The Injuns DRAGGED you from one village to
another." He paused meditatively, muttering the word to himself,
while Lahoma ran away to catch the pony. When she came back,
leading it by the mane, he said, "I've been a-weighing that word,
Lahoma, and it don't seem to me that 'dragged' sounds proper. It
don't seem no sort of word to use in a parlor. What do you think?
DRAGGED! How does that strike you?"

"I don't like the sound of it, neither," said Lahoma, shaking her
head. "I think DRUG is softer. It kinder melts in the ear, and
DRAGGED sticks."

"Well, don't use neither one till I can find out." Presently he
was swinging along across the plain toward the southwestern range
while the girl kept close beside him on the pony. Their talk was