St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-07-29
Nj AN ARIZONA TAVERN.
How tho Tenderfoot Made the Ola
Gentleman Dance.

How tho Tenderfoot Made the oiu
Gentleman Dance.
owen wister, in Harpers Magazine.
Ephraim, the proprietor OF the lwel-
~ Mile. had wasted his day I'D puryihs
q man. He did not know the man. he
had found him, or what the Apaches
had left of him, sprawled among some
charrpd sticks Just outside the CANYON
Sei Gro It was a useful discovery IN
,tS wav for otherwise Ephraim might
have zone on hunting his strayrd
horSss near the canyon ana enueu
amono charred sticks himself, very
likely the Indians were far away oy ms
time. but he returned to lwenty Miie
with the man tied to his sadole' anu us
pony pervously snorting. Anu now .ao
day was done. and the man Jay Ill I,de
earth. and they had even pulit ixn.o
around him: for the wlioIe was p,v'e -
ShaiIow and covotes have a way OF
sm.iIim9 this sort of thing long way
off when they are hungry. and the man
was not in a coffin. They were always
short of collins in Arizona. Ara,
Nav was done at twenty Mlle, ana
the customary activity prevailed INSIDE
that flat-roofed cube OF mud. Suuiius Va
singing. shooting, dancing and Mexican
times on the cOncertina came out OF the
windows hand in hand, to widen ana
die among the hills. A timber, pretty
hoy. who might be nineteen. was ualic'
ing energetically, while grave oiu gen.
tleman, with tobacco running ao"n ms
beard, pointed pistol at lue ooy
heels, and shot hole III the earth iluM
and then to show that the Weap"i. W.a
Er,nrUhnnV
used to all of thiS-eXcapt the boy. He
was an Eastern newcomer, passing his
first evening at place OF entertain
ment.
Night in and night out, every guest at
Twenty Mile was either happ yand full
of whisky, or else his friends were max
ing ARRANGEMENTS for his funeral. There
was water at Twenty Mile-the only
water for two score of miles. ConSe-
uuently it was an important station on
the road between the southern country
and Old Camp Grant, and the new mines
north of tho MeScal range. The stunt,
liuuor-pprtumed adobe cabin lay on the
ground floor of the desert like an Isolated
slab OF chocolate. A corral, two deSolate
stable sheds and slowly turning wind
mill were all else. Here Ephraim and
one or two helpers abode, armed against
Indians and selling whisky. Variety in
their vocation OF drinking and killing
was brought them by the travellers.
These passed and passed through the
ylaring vacant mOnthS-Some days only
one ragged fortune hunter riding a
: Jony; again by two and three, with
.iigh-loaded burros; and sometimes
;hey came in companies. walking
beside their cIanking freight wag-
ons. Some were young and some
were old, and all drank whisky,
and wore knives and guns to keep
each other civil. Most of them were
bound for the mines, and some OF them
sometimes returned. No man trusted
The next man, and their names, when
they had any, would be O'Rafferty, An,
gus, SchwarlZmeyer, Jose Maria and
Smith. All stopped for one night, some
longer, remaining drunk and profitable
| to EDhraim; now and then one stayed
permanently, and had fence built
round him. Whoever came, and what.
ever hefell them, Twenty Mile was
chronically hilarious after sundown-a
dot or riot in the dumb Arizona night.
On this particular evening they had a
tenderfoot. The boy, being now in Ari.
IONA, still trusted his neighbor. Such
people turned up occasionally. This
one had paid for everybOdy's drink
several times, because he felt friendly,
and never noticed that nobody ever paid
for his. They had played cards with
him, stolen his spurs, and now they
| were making him dance. 1t was an
ancient pastlme; yet two or three were
glad to stand around and watch it. be.
cause it was some time since they had
| been to the opera. Now the tender.
| foot had misunderstood these friends
at the beginning, supposing him
self to be among good fellows,
and they therefore naturally set him
down as fool. But even while dancing
YOU may learn much, and suddenly