THE MAN WHO TOOK WATER
him to the door. He kicked him off the side-walk into the street, and then going back picked up Sage's "gun" and threw it after him. The Colonel went out, and I followed him. Sage was sobbing in the dust. His horse was "hung up" close by. I saw Bob White in the front of the crowd, standing close by the store at which he worked. I know now that I noticed an open barrel close by him. Some of Ben's parasites laughed. One mean hound kicked "Sage" as he lay, and the Colonel, who was standing by, caught him by the ear with his left hand and nearly wrenched it off. He never saw who did it, and no one told him, though he went howling to Ben, who still stood by the bar. Ben struck him across the mouth, and ordered some brandy. He needed it. And then he came out, just as Sage-brush was getting to his horse. A boy picked up his six-shooter from the dust and ran with it to him. I heard Greet's despair as he spoke to him.
"I don't need it no more. I'm not a man," he said, and he rode away through the parting crowd with his head upon his breast. And
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