Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1877-09-29

eeed slowly and in file, so that there wa
little chance for conversation, had h
been disposed to satisfy my curiosity.
We tOiled on in silence, the buckley
giving way to chimisal, the WESTERN:
sun, reflected again from the blanl
walls beside us, binding our eyes witt
its glare. The pines in the canyon be
low were olive CULTS of heat, over which
hawk here and there drifted lazily, oil
rising to our level, cast weird and
gigantic shadow of slowly moving
wings on the mountain side. The supe.
riority of the strangers horse led him
often far in advance, and made me hope
that he might forget me entirely, or
push on, grown weary of waiting. But
regularly he would halt by a bowlder,
or reappear from some chinlisai, where
he had patiently halted. was begin
ming to hate him mildly, when at one OF
those Temperatures he drew up to my
side, and asked me how liked Dickens,
Had he asked my opinion of Huxley
or Darwin, could not have been more
astonished. Thinking it were possible
that he referred to some local celebrity
of Lagrange, l said. hesitatingly:
You mean -?"
"Charles Dickens. Of course you've
read him? Which of his books do you
like best?''
Ireplied with considerable embarrass-
ment tina; / liked them all as I GER
tainly did.
He grasped my hand for a moment
with a fervor quite unlike his usual
phlegm, and said, ''That's me, old
man. Dickens amt no SLOUGH. You
can count on him pretty much all the
time"
With this rough preface, he launched
into criticism of the novelist, which for
sympathy and hearty appre-
citation had rarely heard equaled. Not
only did he dwell upon the exuberance
of his humOr, but upon the power of his
pathOs and the all-pervading element of
his poetry. looked at the man in as
l had considered myself
rather diligent student of the great
master of fiction, but the strangers
felicity of quotation and illustration
me. 1t is true that his thought
was not always clothed in the best Ian
guage, and often appeared in the slOuch-
ing, slangy undress of the place and pc
Rod, vet it never was rustic nor home
spun, and sometimes struck me with its
precision and fitness. Considerably
toward him, 1 tried him with
other literature. But vaialy. Be-
yond a few of the lyrical and
emotional poets, he knew nothing.
Under the influence and enthusiasm of
his own speech, he himself had softened
offered to change horses
with me, readjusted my saddle with pro-
skill, transferred my pack to
his own horse, insisted upon my sharing
the contents of his whisky-fask, and,
that i was unarmed, pressed
upon me Il silver-mounted derringer.
which he assured me he could ''warrant.'
These various Offices Of good will and
the diversion of his talk beguiled me
from noticing thu fact tina. the trail was
to become obscure and IN
We were evidently pur- /
suing route unknown before to me. | 2
pointed ont the fact 10 MY companion
little impatiently. He instantly resum-
ID his old manner and dialect.
"Well, ! reckon one trails as good as
mother, and what hev We get to say
ibou; it?''
pointed out, with some dignity, that
preferred the old trail.
''Mebbee you did. But you're jiss
low takin' = pasear with me. This yer
raj. VIII bring yor right into Indian
spring, and oaaoticed, an no questions
'shed. DON'T You mind, now I'll see
'ou through"
1t was necessary here to make some
tand against my strange companion.
said firmly. yet as politely as l could,
hat had proposed stopping over night
With friend.