"'Can't we pull our freight in the night?'says the towerist, an'
he's shorely anxious.

"'Too much moon,' says Dave; 'an' then, ag'in, the whole Injun
outfit's below us in the draw, an' we never gets by once in a
thousand times. No,' goes on Dave, 'one shore thing we can't back
out nor crawl off. We-alls has to play the hand plumb through:

"Then Dave tells the towerist him an' me talks over this yere
weddin' which he done goes into so inadvertent; an' if thar's a
chance to save him from becomin' a father-in-law abrupt, we'll play
it to win.

"'This yere is the only wagon-track out; says Dave to me, after we
pow-wows an hour. 'You go down to them Injuns, an' find the right
buck that a-way, an' tell him the squaw's got a buck now. Tell him
he's barred. Which at this p'int in your revelations he's due to
offer a fight, an' of course you takes him. Tell him at first-drink
time to-morrow mornin' he finds me ready to fight for the squaw.'

"'This whole business makes metired, though,' says Dave, a heap
disgustad. ' If these eediots had let them Injuns alone-, or even if
they disdains the ponies when they was brought up, this yere could
be fixed easy. But now it's fight or give up the woman, so you go
down, as I says, an' arrange for the dance.'

"Of course thar's no explainin' nothin' to Injuns. You might as well
waste time expoundin' to coyotes an' jack-rabbits. All that's left
for me to do is trail out after my savage, as Dave says, an' notify