220 HUNTING THE GRISLY. 



to Fowler, and ' Fowler,' says I, ' that Turk 's 

 offered me twenty-five dollars a day to protect 

 him from you. Now, I ain't goin' to get shot 

 for no twenty-five dollars a day, and if you are 

 goin' to kill the Turk, just say so and go and 

 do it ; but if you ain't goin' to kill the Turk, 

 there 's no reason why I should n't earn that 

 twenty-five dollars a day 1 ' and Fowler, says 

 he, ' I ain't goin' to touch the Turk; you just 

 go right ahead and protect him.' " 



So Simpson " protected " the Turk from 

 the imaginary danger of Fowler, for about a 

 week, at twenty-five dollars a day. Then one 

 evening he happened to go out and met Fow- 

 ler, " and," said he, " the moment I saw him 

 I knowed he felt mean, for he begun to shoot 

 at my feet," which certainly did seem to offer 

 presumptive evidence of meanness. Simpson 

 continued : 



" I didn't have no gun, so I just had to 

 stand there and take it until something dis- 

 tracted his attention, and I went off home to 

 get my gun and kill him, but I wanted to do 

 it perfectly lawful ; so I went up to the mayor 

 (he was playin' poker with one of the judges), 

 and says I to him, ' Mr. Mayor,' says I, ' I 

 am goin' to shoot Fowler. And the mayor he 

 riz out of his chair and he took me by the 

 hand, and says he, ' Mr. Simpson, if you do I 

 will stand by you;' and the judge, he says, 

 ' I'll go on your bond.' " 



Fortified by this cordial approval of the ex- 

 ecutive and judicial branches of the govern- 

 ment, Mr. Simpson started on his quest. 



