we'll call him the 'Astor Injun,' takes a heavy fall out of the
opp'sition by goin' over to Cherryvale an' buyin' a sooperannuated
two-seat Rockaway buggy. To this he hooks up a span of ponies, loads
in his squaws, an' p'rades 'round from Pawhusky to Greyhoss--the
same bein' a couple of Osage camps--an' tharby redooces the enemy--
what we'll name the 'Vanderbilt Injuns'--to desp'ration. The Astor
savage shorely has the call with that Rockaway.

"But the Vanderbilt Osage is a heap hard to down. He takes one look
at the Astor Injun's Rockaway with all its blindin' splendors, an'
then goes streakin' it for Cherryvale, like a drunkard to a
barbecue. An' he sees the Rockaway an' goes it several better. What
do you-all reckon now that savage equips himse'f with? He wins out a
hearse, a good big black roomy hearse, with ploomes onto it an'
glass winders in the sides.

"As soon as ever this Vanderbilt Injun stiffens his hand with the
hearse, he comes troopin' back to camp with it, himse'f on the box
drivin', an' puttin' on enough of lordly dog to make a pack of
hounds. Which he shorely squelches the Astors; they jest simply lay
down an' wept at sech grandeur. Their Rockaway ain't one, two,
three,--ain't in the money.

"An' every day the Vanderbilt Injun would load his squaws an'
papooses inside the hearse, an' thar, wropped in their blankets an'
squattin' on the floor of the hearse for seats, they would be
lookin' out o' the winders at common savages who ain't in it an'
don't have no hearse. Meanwhiles, the buck Vanderbilt is drivin' the
outfit all over an' 'round the cantonments, the entire bunch as
sassy an' as flippant as a coop o' catbirds. It's all the Astors can