He comes out
shore-'nough, but he's organized. He's got his gun in his hand; an'
also he's packin' the Deef Woman's yearlin' in front of his breast
an' face.
"Jack gives him the word, but Pinon Bill only laughs. Then Jack
makes a bluff with his gun like he's goin' to shoot Pinon Bill, the
infant, an' all involved tharin. This yere last move rattles Pinon
Bill, an' he ups an' slams loose at Jack. But the baby's in his way
as much mebby as it is in Jack's, an' he only grazes Jack's frame a
whole lot, which amounts to some blood an' no deep harm.
"'Down his pony, Jack!' shouts Dave Tutt, jumpin' outen the Red
Light like he aims to get in on the deal.
"But this yere Pinon Bill shifts the cut on 'em.
"'If one of you-alls so much as cracks a cap,' he says, 'I blows the
head offen this yere blessed child.'
"An' tharupon he shoves his gun up agin that baby's left y'ear that
a-way, so it shore curdles your blood. He does it as readily as if
it's grown-up folks. It shore sends a chill through me; an' Dan
Boggs is that 'fected he turns plumb sick. Boggs ain't eatin' a
thing, leastwise nothin' but whiskey, for two days after he sees
Pinon Bill do it.
"'That's on the level,' says this Pinon Bill ag'in.
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