As Jaybird rides up to camp he
sees this Todd rolled in his blankets, snorin' to beat four of a
kind.
"Nacherally Jaybird's out to be joyous in a second. He rides up
close to this he'pless shorthorn as he lays asleep, an' tosses a
loop of his wet rawhide across his countenance where it's turned up
in the moonlight. As it settles down cold an' startlin' on Todd's
skin, Jaybird yells:
"Snake, Todd! Thar's a rattlesnake on you bigger'n a dog.'
"Jaybird says later as how this Todd behaves tremendous. He b'iles
up into the atmosphere with a howl like a wolf; an', grabbin' a
blanket in each hand, he starts out over the plains in a state of
frenzy. Which the worst is he charges headlong toward the herd; an'
what with them shrieks he volunteers, an' the blankets flappin' an'
wavin', thar ain't a cow in the bunch who stays in her right mind a
moment. Which she springs to her feet, an takin' her offspring
along, goes surgin' off into the hills for good. You couldn't head
or stop 'em then. It's the completest case of stampede I ever turns
out to behold.
"No; this yere Todd never gathers the rights of the eepisode. He's
that peevish an' voylent by nacher no one tells him it's Jaybird;
an' onless, in the light of knowin' more, he has since figgered out
the trooth, he allows to this day a rattlesnake as big as a roll of
blankets tries to recline on his face that time.
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