PAINTED ROCK
Bobby White last evenin', so I hear. For Bobby will run wild in Gedge's saloon, and he puts his hard-earned dollars into faro, which is foolish, and he's a good boy and clever. I'd fair admire if Sage-brush took Ben down. And if Ben did up Sage 'twould be no loss to his perticular locality. And I'm thinking, Charlie, that Ben's time is comin' along fast."
I asked him why he said that, and the old man screwed his face up thoughtfully before he spoke.
"My son, I've lived long, for I'm over the three-score and ten biz by three years. That's a fact. And I've seen a powerful sight of bad men in my time, you bet. I heven't ranged all along the Rockies from the Wind River Mountains and Butte, through Colorado and Arizona right to here, without seeing of 'em rise and shine in splendour and fizzle out in blood. And some lose their narve and git, and start again, far away from the ha'nts where they was notorious, as peaceful citizens. One I knew earned an honourable livin' for years after losin' his narve by cuttin' wood. I've watched Ben this last year, and I see signs
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