That's
the kind of place the Ellis ranch was, and a nice old farm she was,
too.
"I'd been working there about three months, when along come a man
that looked like old man Trouble's only son. Of all the sorrowful
faces you ever see, his was the longest and thinnest. It made any
other human countenance I ever see look like a nigger-minstrel show.
[Illustration: Made any other human countenance I ever see look
like a nigger-minstrel show.]
"We was short-handed, as the old man had begun to put up hay and
work some of the stock in corrals for the winter, so we took our
new brother on. His name was Ezekiel George Washington
Scraggs--tuneful number for a cow-outfit!--and his name didn't come
anywhere near doin' him justice at that. Ezekiel knew his biz and
turned in a day's work right straight along, but when you'd say,
'Nice day, Scraggs?' he'd heave such a sigh you could feel the
draft all the way acrost the bull-pen, and only shake his head.
"Up to this time Wind-river had enjoyed a cinch on the mournful
act. He'd had a girl sometime durin' the Mexican war, and she'd
borrowed Smith's roll and skipped with another man. So, if we
crowded Smithy too hard in debate, he used to slip behind that girl
and say, 'Oh, well! You fellers will know better when you've had
more experience," although we might have been talkin' about what's
best for frost-bite at the time.
"He noticed this new man Scraggs seemed to hold over him a trifle
in sadness, and he thought he'd find out why.
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