"I was brung up mighty proper. I had a most amazing lot of prayers at the
tip of my tongue when I wasn't no more'n knee-high to a grasshopper. But
when a man has got a fire in him, they ain't no use trying to smother it.
You either got to put water on it or else let it burn itself out.
"My old man didn't see it that way. When I got to cutting up he'd try to
smother it, and stop me by saying: 'Don't!' Which don't accomplish
nothing with young gents that got any spirit. Not a damn thing--asking
your pardon, ladies! Well, sirs, he kept me in harness, you might say,
and pulling dead straight down the road and working hard and faithful.
But all the time I'd been saving up steam, and swelling and swelling and
getting pretty near ready to bust.
"Well, sirs, pretty soon--we was living in Garrison City them days, when
Garrison wasn't near the town that it is now--along comes word that Jack
Hollis is around. A lot of you younger folks ain't never heard nothing
about him. But in his day Jack Hollis was as bad as they was made. They
was nothing that Jack wouldn't turn to real handy, from shootin' up a
town to sticking up a train or a stage.
Pages:
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108