Cherry 



order not being obeyed with sufficient alac- 

 rity, he fired a couple of shots across his bows 

 as a gentle warning, which confirmed the 

 motorman and his fares in the impression that 

 a hold-up was in progress, and the last we saw 

 of them they were scuttling across lots to a 

 place of safety. We hastily got our outfit 

 together, and started at once in the direction 

 of the old ranch, concluding that, after all, 

 there was no place like home. Cherry lis- 

 tened patiently to our remonstrances as we 

 rode away, but was evidently not placated, 

 and declared defiantly, as the town disap- 

 peared behind the hills, that " No Christian 

 soldiers, with their church-bells ringing, could 

 travel up the same canon with his pack 

 horses. Not if he saw 'em first." 



It must not for a moment be assumed from 

 these stories that Cherry was at all deficient 

 in courage, and nerve, and daring. Far from 

 it. And while he was not what is known as 

 a " bad man," and had no private graveyard, 

 yet many a western bully has found to his 

 cost that, underlying that childlike and amia- 

 ble simplicity of character, there was a stratum 

 as hard as flint, and which struck fire as 

 readily when dealt a blow. Unless the tradi- 



71 



