'
"'That's straight,' says Dave Tutt, 'you-alls can't run no brand on
melodies. A gent can't own no music after he cuts it loose that a-
way. The minute it leaves the bosoms of his fiddles, that's where he
lets go. After that it belongs to any gent to dance by, cry by, set
by, or fight by, as he deems meet an' pleasant at the time.'
"'What do you-alls say?' says Hamilton to Enright an' Peets. 'Does
this yere piece of oppression on a leadin' citizen, perpetrated by a
rank outsider, go? I shore waits for your reply with impatience, for
I eetches to go back an' shoot up this new hurdy-gurdy from now till
sun-up.'
"Enright takes Doc Peets down by the end of the bar--an' thar's no
doubt about it, that Peets is the wisest longhorn west of the
Missoury--an' they has a deep consultation. We-alls is waitin'. some
interested, to see what they says. It's shore a fine p'int this
Colonel's makin' to jestify an' back his game.
"'Get a move on you, Enright!' at last says Dan Boggs, who is a
hasty, eager man, who likes action; 'get a move on you, you an'
Peets, an' settle this. You're queerin' the kyards an' delayin' the
play.'
"'Well, gents,' says Enright at last, comin' back where we-alls is
by the door, 'Peets an' me sees no need decidin' on them questions
about who owns a tune after said tune has been played.
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