OH, SHOOT! 



of announcing that breakfast was served. 

 Rain was still falling; the bushes were wet 

 and the rim of the plateau, far above, was 

 obscured by clouds. 



We uncovered no hydrophobia skunks when 

 we turned back our blankets; none of us had 

 been bitten during the night. A hurried trip 

 to the creek, and we were ready for the worst 

 that Pat had to offer. 



As we cracked our vitrified, sour-dough 

 door knobs and sipped our tin demi-tasses, I 

 inquired of him: 



"What do you mean by inviting us to climb 

 a wagon wheel?" 



"It's just a habit I got into when I was 

 cooking for a cow outfit in New Mexico," Pat 

 explained. ' ' Those old boys was rough eaters, 

 and they thought well of their grub. One day 

 an Eastern feller stopped at the chuck wagon 

 for dinner nice feller, he was, as nice a boy 

 as ever I saw but he happened to an accident. 

 Our men came drifting in at meal time and 

 ringed around the wagon, pawing the ground 

 and clashing their horns and bellering for their 

 feed. When it was all set, I yelled, ' Come and 

 get it or I'll throw it out,' and do you know? 

 those son of a guns like to tromped that poor 



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