The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1907-10-04

HAND TO SAM
other from the west. Each came in
with a whoop and a yell. Each an
nounced himself a holy terror. They
had guns and scalping knives. They
had a thirst for gore. They had
nOtchcS cut in the butts of their guns
to show that they had killed twenty
seven critters apiece.
when this yere court is net a court
he is running the Red Dog saloon, as
is known to you all. He knows a man
when he sees one. He knows a holy
terror from a tenderfOOt. No one can
say that he has ever seen him TAX
water for any living thing. When he
sizes up q new arrival what he say
goes.
"INhen them two holy tterrors ar
rived in town that day there was a
, commotion- We hadn't seen one for a
year. was called upon RIO size 'enl
up, and l went forth. I s~overhau&ed
Rocky Mountain Jim and asked him
to drink and counted the .notches in
! his gun butts. l listened TO his roar
: and saw him foam at the mouth, and
I says to some Of you, Says
The Real Thing
""Ihere'S no discount on him. He's
, the real thing and no mistake. He's
J a cyclone on wheels and must be pat
ted on the back or there1l be trouble
Then l hun1ed up Kaw Valley Sam.
I found him eating the raw meat ola
steer just killed and trying to buy two
acres of grourRo for a private grave
yard. l istened to his growls and
roars. I Witnessed his hardness at
drawing. | looked into his b2oodshot-
eyes. Then / ZONES away and says
to some of You fellers, says I:
"Tt's the sio.on pure thing. Itihasn't
been wkitewashcd % gilded over. Look
out for it. It's a real old fashioned
holy terror of the brand Of fifteen
years asa. If it tuFTs loose, the Gown
will swim in OloOd.'
"And the rest Of , took my size
up as O.. "A, and the town of Sandy
Bend proceeded to bic in its boots
We've beer q purity tiff crowd yere,
but we've been losing our hold for the
past five Years. For three days them
terrOrs held Gle town. I}hey divided 1t
between 'em and didn't meet. They
told what tbeg would dc so each other
in case they cid meet, ard their Ian
guage made Us SILVER. We was will
ing toaout up with sun spots and earth
quakes and volcanoes all Summer, but
we prayed that them two terriers might
not meet.
"On the fourth day some OF us be-
gan to wonder Why one Of 'en didn't
seek out the other and have the >siaugh-
! ter over with. Then we further Won
dered If one was afraid and the other
dasn't. They continued to promenade
around and whoop and yell and ehank
their teeth, bat we went right ahead
and put up s job to bring them to-
gether. This we're court, not rs q
court, but as an individual, was Sc
lected TO work the racket. I hunted
up Sam and patted him on the back
and rubbed his bristles down and in
v1ted him TO take 4 walk. l walked
him along 10 tbe Blue Moon saloon
and into 1t, and there he came face to
face with Jim.
Whole Country Held Its Breath.
"FOr n Ions mint the country for
forty miles around held its breath.
"FOr sixty seconds the mountains got
ready to tremOle and the rivers to run
up hill.
"As them two holy terrors gazed into
each others faces we thought of hills
composed Of skeletons and lakes brim-
ming over with blood. We breathed in
gasps and stood on Cur tiptoes.
"Then what happened? If [ ask the
question win Il qlayer in my voice and
tears in ny eyes, don't blame me.