MR. POTTER'S OVIS CANADENSIS. 



95 



Know about it, eh ! You gorn strimmed, 

 farm yard, barn-storming murderer ! You 

 ought to bin born a nigger, you tender 

 toed, bat-eyed roost robber. 



"See here," he said once more, "this 

 mounten sheep of yours, this wild monster 

 of the 'ills wot you gallantly laid out with- 

 in 300 yards o' my shack door, has some 

 funny marks on 'im. I put 'em there an' 

 I'd like to put same on you." He 

 stooped and with his hand brushed heavily 

 aside the clotted blood on the sheep's right 

 shoulder. He further applied Potter's own 

 pure white lawn handkerchief to the spot 

 and exposed to the gaze of the aston- 

 ished hunter the letters B. P. branded 

 there. 



"P. B.," he ejaculated "p double e P, b 

 double e B. ; short for Patrick Bolger, that's 

 me. Patrick Bolger wot payed $1,000 way 

 East not 3 weeks ago for this same 

 blessed imported, cup winning, long pedi- 

 greed, stud ram; $1,000; and come to think 

 of it freight and duty besides ; and you, 

 you ornary, empty 'eaded, blanket-eyed, 

 fumble footed son of a mummy, you wastes 



good powder and lead turnin' it all into 

 $10 worth o' mutton. Guides come ex- 

 pensive, do they? So do mount'n sheep, 

 and this special item's costing you just 

 $1,500. When are you goin' to pay?" 



That night poor Gregory after much 

 haggling and ignominy, a sadder, wiser and 

 poorer man paid over to Patrick Bolger 

 $1,400 dollars good and lawful money of 

 Canada and took in exchange a receipt for 

 the stud ram Boxer; and unable to face the 

 avalanche of derision which overwhelmed 

 him left Fire Gulch forever by the 4 

 o'clock stage next morning. The night 

 of settlement "Rain-in-the-Face" somehow 

 developed into a capitalist. During the 

 next few days he was known to invest 

 nearly $300 in whiskey and perhaps $200 

 in real estate. "Mighty good notion o' 

 your'n," said Pat to him. "Th'owd ram 

 cost $95 all told. That 'ill be $800 for me 

 and $500 for you, clean profit, an' I hope 

 Providence will soon send some more wise 

 men from the East. Deer is cheap, sheep is 

 dear, but asses is val'able beyond calkila- 

 tion." 



AMATEUR PHOTO BY R. C. CAMERON. 



TWO GOOD SHOTS. 

 Conditional Winner of 3d Prize in Recreation's 7th Annual Photo Competition. 



