In Open Rebellion

"It wus about the durndest fight as ever I see," explained Bill Hicks
confidentially to a group of his cronies in the bar-room of the
Poodle-Dog, while he tossed down a glass of red liquor, and shook the
powdered snowflakes from his bearskin coat. "He wus a sorter slim,
long-legged chap, thet young actor feller I showed the trail down ter
Bolton ter, an' he scurcely spoke a word all durin' thet whol' blame
ride. Search me, gents, if I c'd git either head er tail outer jist
whut he wus up to, only thet he proposed ter knock ther block off some
feller if he had the good luck ter ketch 'im. Somehow, I reckoned he
'd be mighty likely ter perform the job, the way his jaw set an' his
eyes flared. Leastwise, I didn't possess no rip-roarin' ambition fer
ter be thet other feller. Still, I didn't suppose he was no whirlwind."

Bill mechanically held out his drained glass, and, warming up somewhat,
flung his discarded overcoat across a vacant bench, his eyes beginning
to glow with reawakened enthusiasm.

"But, by gory, he wus! He wus simply chain lightnin', thet kid, an'
the way he handed out his dukes wus a sight fer sore eyes. I got onto
the facts sorter slow like, neither of us bein' much on the converse,
but afore we hed reached Bolton I managed to savvy the most of it. It
seems thet feller Albrecht--the big, cock-eyed cuss who played Damon,
ye recollect, gents--wus the boss of the show. He wus the Grand Moke,
an' held the spuds. Well, he an' thet one they call Lane jumped the
ore train last night, carryin' with 'em 'bout all the specie they'd
been corrallin' fer a week past, and started hot-foot fer Denver,
intendin' ter leave all them other actor people in the soup. This yere
lad hed got onter the racket somehow, an' say, he wus plumb mad; he wus
too damn mad ter talk, an' when they git thet fur gone it's 'bout time
fer the innocent spectator ter move back outen range. So he lassoed me
down at Gary's barn fer ter show him the ol' trail, an' we had one hell
of a night's ride of it.