218 HUNTING THE GRISLY. 



Fowler, and there was a reward on him of 

 three thousand dollars " 



" Put on him by the State ? " 



" No, put on by his wife," said my friend ; 

 " and there was this " 



" Hold on," I interrupted ; " put on by his 

 wife did you say ? " 



" Yes, by his wife. Him and her had been 

 keepin' a faro bank, you see, and they quar- 

 relled about it, so she just put a reward on 

 him, and so " 



" Excuse me," I said, " but do you mean to 

 say that this reward was put on publicly ? " to 

 which my friend answered, with an air of gen- 

 tlemanly boredom at being interrupted to 

 gratify my thirst for irrelevant detail : 



" Oh, no, not publicly. She just mentioned 

 it to six or eight intimate personal friends." 



" Go on," I responded, somewhat overcome 

 by this instance of the primitive simplicity 

 with which New Mexican matrimonial disputes 

 were managed, and he continued : 



" Well, two men come ridin' in to see me to 

 borrow my guns. My guns was Colt's self- 

 cockers. It was a new thing then, and they 

 was the only ones in town. These come to 

 me, and ' Simpson/ says they, ' we want to 

 borrow your guns ; we are goin' to kill Fowler.' 



" * Hold on for a moment,' said I, ' I am 

 willin' to lend you them guns, but I ain't go- 

 in' to know what you V goin' to do with 

 them, no sir ; but of course you can have the 

 guns.' " Here my friend's face lightened 

 pleasantly, and he continued : 



