第44章

"But the conduct of this yere Prince Hal gets more an' more mysterious.When he's a safe eighty feet away, he jumps in the air, cracks his heels together, hurls a frightful curse at Hotspur, an'

turns an' walks off a heap rapid.Hotspur can't read them signs at all; an' to be frank, no more can I.Prince Hal never looks back; he surges straight ahead, climbs the hill on the other side, an' is lost in the oak bushes.

"Hotspur watches him out of sight, gets a drink in the Caliente, an'

then climbs the hillside to where I'm camped, to decide about me.Of course, Hotspur an' I arrives at a treaty of peace by the bacon-rind route, an' things ag'in quiets down on the Caliente.

"It's next mornin' about fourth drink time, an' I'm overhaulin' a saddle an' makin' up some beliefs on several subjects of interest, when I observes Hotspur's face wearin' a onusual an' highly hang-dog expression.An' I can't see no cause.I sweeps the scenery with my eye, but I notes nothin'.An' yet it's as evident as a club flush that Hotspur's scared to a standstill.He ain't sayin nothin', but that's because he thinks he'll save his breath to groan with when dyin'.It's a fact, son; I couldn't see nor hear a thing, an' yet that Hotspur bull stands thar fully aware, somehow, that thar's a warrant out for him.

"At last I'm made posted of impendin' events.Across the wide Caliente comes a faint but f'rocious war song.I glance over that a-way, an' thar through the oak bresh comes Prince Hal.An' although he's a mile off, he's p'intin' straight for this yere invader, Hotspur.At first I thinks Prince Hal's alone, an' I'm marvellin'

whatever he reckons he's goin' to a'complish by this return.But jest then I gets a glimmer, far to Prince Hal's r'ar, of that reedic'lous Pistol, the milk-white steer.

"I beholds it all; Falstaff is comin'; only bein' a dark brown Ican't yet pick him out o' the bresh.Prince Hal has travelled over to Long's Canyon an' told the giant Falstaff how Hotspur jumps into the Caliente an' puts it all over him that a-way.Falstaff is lumberin' over--it's a journey of miles--to put this redundant Hotspur back on his reservation.Prince Hal, bein' warm, lively an'

plumb zealous to recover his valley, is nacherally a quarter of a mile ahead of Falstaff.

"It's allers a question with me why this yere foolhardy Hotspur don't stampede out for safety.But he don't; he stands thar lookin'

onusual limp, an' awaits his fate.Prince Hal don't rush up an'

mingle with Hotspur; he's playin' a system an' he don't deviate tharfrom.lie stands off about fifty yards, callin' Hotspur names, an' waitin' for Falstaff to arrive.

"An' thar's a by-play gets pulled off.This ranikaboo Pistol, who couldn't fight a little bit, an' who's caperin' along ten rods in the lead of Falstaff, gets the sudden crazy-boss notion that he'll mete out punishment to Hotspur himse'f, an' make a reputation as a war-eagle with his pard an' patron, Falstaff.With that, Pistol curves his tail like a letter S, and, lowerin' his knittin'-needle horns, comes dancin' up to Hotspur.The bluff of this yere ignoble Pistol is too much.Hotspur r'ars loose an' charges him.This egreegious Pistol gets crumpled up, an' Hotspur goes over him like a baggage wagon.The shock is sech that Pistol falls over a wash-bank;an' after swappin' end for end, lands twenty feet below with a groan an' a splash in the Caliente.Pistol is shorely used up, an' crawls out on the flat ground below, as disconsolate a head o' cattle as ever tempts the echoes with his wails.

"But Hotspur has no space wherein to sing his vict'ry.Falstaff decends upon him like a fallin' tree.With one rushin' charge, an' a note like thunder, he simply distributes that Hotspur all over the range.Thar's only one blow; as soon as Hotspur can round up his fragments an' net to his hoofs, he goes sailin' down the valley, his eyes stickin' out so's he can see his sins.As he starts, Prince Hal, who's been hoppin' about the rim of the riot, claps his horns to Hotspur's flyin' hocks an' keeps him goin'.But it ain't needed none; that Falstaff actooally ruins Hotspur with the first charge.

"That night Falstaff, with the pore Pistol jest able to totter, stays with us, an' Prince Hal fusses an' bosses' 'round, sort o'

directin' their entertainment.The next afternoon Falstaff gives a deep bellow or two, like he's extendin' 'adios' to the entire Caliente canyon, an' then goes pirootin' off for home in Long's, with Pistol, who looks an' feels like a laughin' stock, limpin' at his heels.That's the end.Four days later, as I'm swingin' 'round the range, I finds Falstaff an' Pistol in Long's Canyon; Prince Hal is on the Caliente; while Hotspur--an' his air is both wise an' sad--is tamely where he belongs on the Upper Red.An' now recallin' how I comes to plunge into this yere idyl, I desires to ask you-all, however Prince Hal brings Faistaff to the wars that time, if cattle can't talk?"