The Huttig news., 1914-06-27
,14. by Frank A. N4unsev

All right" he said, as he passed 1t back, "and while we're talking, what's the matter with cutting it out on booze for this trip?"
 What are you going to drink. then?" cried De Ianeey in feigned alarm, "water?"
 Well. something 1..:e that" admit ted Bud Come on-what do you say? We might get lit up and tell something"
 Now lookee here, Bud" clamored Phil, who had had few drinks al- ready, you don't mean to insinuate, do you? Next thing know you'll be asking me to cut it out on the hay might talk in my sleep, you know. and give the whole snap away!"
 No. you're good boy when you're asleep, Phil" responded Bud, but when you get about half shot it's diff ferert. Come on, now-I'll quit if you will. That's fair, ain't it?',
 What? No little toots around town? No serenading the senoritas and giving the rurales the hotfoot? We'll,
 
 can't have little fun? Drinking don't make any difference, as long as We stick together. What's the use ct swearing off-Soirg g on record in ad- vance? We may fl Id some fellow that we cant work any other way-we may have to go on drunk with him in or der to get his goat! But will you stick? That's the point"
 Bud glanced at him and gYunted and fer a long time he rode on in silence. Before them lay a rolling plain, dip ping by broad gulches and dwindling ridges 10 the lower levels of Old Mex leo, and on the skyline. thin and hl,re. stood the knifelike edges of the For tunas miles away.
 With deserttrained eyes he noted the landmarks, San Juan mountain to the right Old Niggerhead to the left. and the fe9ther-edge of mountains far below; and as he looked he stored it away in his mind i'll case he should come back on the run some night. IL was not a foreboding, but the training of his kind to note the lay of l the ground, and he planned just where | he would ride to keep under cover if he ever made a dash for the line. But | friendship and of the necessity of theil sticking together.
 "Ill tell you. Bud," he said at last his voice trembling with sentiment I"whether we win or lose, won't hay, a single regret as long as know we've been true to one another. You may know Texas and Arizona. Bud, but know Old Mexico, the land of slanana and broken promises. I know the coun- try, Bud-and the climate-and the womenl
 They play the devil with the best of us, Bud, these dark-eyed senoritas! That's what makes all the trouble down here between man and man, it's these women and their ways. They're not satisfied to win mans heart they want him to kill somebody to show that he really loves them. By love. they're fickle lot, and nothing pleases 'em more than setting man against man, one pardner against an- other"
 We never had any trouble yet ob- served Bud sententiously.
 No, but we're likely to-" protested De Lancey. "Thcse Indian women up in the Sierras wouldn't turn anybody 8 head, but we're going down into the hot country now, where the girls are to fa-r d toll oh the windows at midnight"
 Well, if you'll cut out the booze. said Hooker shortly, you can have 'em all, for all of me- Sure, that's what you say, but wait till you see them! Oh, la, Ia. -he kissed his fingers ecstatically-'1ll be glad to see 'em myself But listen, Bud, heres the proposition. let's take an oath right now, while we're start ing out, that whatever comes up we'll always be true to each other. If one of us is wounded, the other stays with him: if he's in prison, be gets him out; if he's killed. he avenges his
 Say broke in Bud, jostling him rudely as he reached into the saddle bags, let me carry that bottle for a while"
 He took big drink out of it to pro- won't De Lancey from getting it all and slowed it inside his overalls
 "All right, pardner," he continued. With mocking smile, anything you ! iy. l never use paths myself much. but anything to oblige."
 No, but l mean it, Bud.' cried pe I.ancey. Heres the proposition now. Whatever happens, we stay with each ott CT till this deal is finished; on all scratch cases we match money to see who's it; and If we tangle over some girl the best man wins and the other one stays away. We leave it to the girl which one wins. Will you shake hands on that?"
 r Don't need to-" responded Bud; 'I1l do it anywayF
 tWell, shake on 1t. thent' insisted De Laneey, holding out his hand
 'Oh, Sally!" burst out Bud. hanging his, head in embarrassment, what's