The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1908-08-13

He says he's goin' to help Cook clean
the dishes up an go over to Loco's
shack on Poncha to prove he amt
a-lyin' none. an even IL he is the best
OF us gifts excited now an then. so
Cook an Short Leg hustles things an
starts of to see how things is driftin'
on with Loco Jones.
Cook comes a-ridin' back alone,
an 1 kin see that somethin's hap
pened by the way he sets. BILL he
says, poor LOco's gittin' close up to
| the crossin'. he's awful sick. Short
Leg, maybe. s lied some. but then,
he's Irish an thinks he sees things
when he don't. but they's a mystery
some place the which amt a-goin' to
make no efforts TO explain. for Loco
Jones wuz in the shack, laid out plum
stiff, his lamp all fred low. as wet as
If he'd swum the Cottonwood We
couldn't shake him up so we un-
dresses him an fixes him the best we
kin. He's plum sure goin' to die. but
ii amt mistook it's goin' to take q
spell before he does. an this here
outfits got some night-herdin' on its
hands, which proves to be the un-
SKINNED truth, for Jones is surely
slippin' of his hobble, the which [
sees when 1 rides over, but lettin' 60
all-fred hard. Most o. the time ne
lays there like log, but now an
then he kind O. stretches hisself out
an groans like life was rooted deep
in him an hated bad to leave.
Cook wrassles up a nightshirt for
vt-hi &c
not bein' none esteemed in the Little
Gorell them days. but one o. my boys
has one the which his maw'd made
for him particular an which he's KEEP
as a kind of souvenir an never men
toned none for fear o. bein' called a
sissy. He loans the shirt to Cook,
which says that when Jones dies he's
goin' to die dressed up like the gentle
man an scholar that he is
When Short Leg Dwyer sees that
Jones is bound to die, he asks me kin
be ride over to Canon City an sit
some holy water to baptize him if ne
gets his senses back. an when he's
gone we finds the pinto bronch right
close to where he seen him at the
bottom of a twenty-fve-foot drop,
saddled and bridled, neck doubled up
under him an broke. dead as the
mummy of a old Egyptian king. We
looked around for signs of Loco, but
nary sign showed UP an no one never
knowed if he'd went over with the
horse or how he come to be there at
the shack only Short Leg kept a-sayin'
that he sure mad seen him streakin' il
along the side O. Poncha drove by tho
devil to the place the bronch lay dead.
It's mighty close, says Cook. one
day. last night Bull howled, an
mighty soon now Jones is goin' to
that land from which no traveller re-
turns, an If amt mistook he's goin'
to get his brains back before he
goes. for mostly these here kind O.
cases happens that-a-way, as / has
heard What Cook says turns out
true. One night when him an me is
settin' up, Jones kind O. shivers an
lifts his head an looks at us like he
amt never seen no cow-men till just
then, an kind O. brushes one pore
bony hand across his eyes an says,
Light! Light at last
Cook kind O. turns away an
kin see his shoulders shake. an as
fur me / knows plum we'll 1 weeps
1 must "a travelled awful fur says
Jones, all in the dark, becuz / don't
know where / am. I'm awful tired,
an my head feels awful queer, but
God has showed me light at last. He
set up as he spoke, drawin' in hard
on his breath an looked out through
the open door. an as l looked I seen
the tip o Poncha MountiR hangin'
up in the sky, lit up by the first peep
o sunshine O. the day, ar then I
hears rustic an l turns an sees
the pore broke wreck of what wuz
once man reach out his arms an
smile, en- hardly fiickerin' his lips he
whispers: Where the wicked cease
from troublin' an the weary are at
rest an drops back dead.
The foreman paused. There was a
trace of mist behind his eyes. "We
buried Jones'" he said. "on Poncha
Mount'in an Short Leg Dwyer made
slab to set up at his head. Loco
Jones, it says, that bein' the only
name we ever knowed him by. He
seen the light. From Outing Mag
aZine.
Her Responsibility Realized.