swarmin' off after the dumb man who's got Texas Thompson's pinto
pony. From the tracks, he ain't makin' no play to throw us off, for
he maintains a straight-away run down the Silver City trail, an'
never leaves it or doubles once.

"Runnin' of the dumb man down don't turn out no arduous task. It's
doo mainly, however, because the pinto sticks a cactus thorn in its
hoof an' goes lame in less time tharafter than it takes to turn a
jack.

"'Hands up,' says Texas, gettin' the drop as we swings up on the
deef an' dumb foogitive.

"But thar's no need of sech preecautions, as the dumb party ain't
packin' no weepons--not so much as a knife.

"Thar's nothin' to say, no talk to make, when we takes him. Texas
hefts him outen the saddle an' ropes his elbows behind with a
lariat.

"'What do you-all su'gest, gents?' says Texas. 'I s'pose now the
deecorous way is to go on with this yere aggressive an' energetic
person to them pinon trees ahead, an' hang him some?'

"'Which thar's no doubts floatin' in anybody's mind on that
subject,' says Dan Boggs, 'but I'd shore admire to know who this
party is, an' where he's headin' to. I dislikes to stretch the neck
of strangers that a-way; an' if thar's any gent, now, who can ask
this yere person who he is, an' what he's got to say, I'd take it as
a favor, personal, if he'd begin makin' of the needed motions.' "But