“Your plan’s all right, Kid,” says Bennett to me.  “You be the terrible desperado that I’m bringin’ home after a bloody fight, where you wounded Martin and me, and ’most escaped.  You’ll have ev’ry rancher’s wife givin’ you flowers and weepin’ over your youth and kissin’ you good-bye.  In the mornin’, when we’re ready to go and I’m about to fix up the vouchers for our host, you break away and ride like the devil.  We’ll all tear off a few shots and foller in a hurry, leavin’ the farmer hopin’ that the villain is recaptured and the girls tearfully prayin’ that the gallunt and misguided youth escapes.”

It seemed to be about our only resort, as the country was full of bad men, and we were liable to get turned down cold if we didn’t have some story, so we decided to try it on.

We rode up to a ranch ’bout dark, that night, me between the others, with my hands tied behind me, and Jim called the owner out.

“I want a night’s lodgin’ fer my deputies and our prisoner,” he says.  “I’m the sheriff of Guadalupe County, and I’ll fix up the bill in the mornin’.”

“Come in!  Come in!” the feller says, callin’ a man for the horses.  “Glad to accommodate you.  Who’s your prisoner?”

“That’s Texas Charlie that robbed the Bank of Euclid single-handed,” answers Jim.  “He give us a long run clean across the State, but we got him jest as he was settin’ over into the Indian Territory.  Fought like a tiger.”

It worked fine.  The feller, whose name was Morgan, give us a good layout for the night and a bully breakfast next morning.

That desperado game was simply great.  The other fellers attended to the horses, and I jest sat around lookin’ vicious, and had my grub brought to me, while the women acted sorrowful and fed me pie and watermelon pickles.

When we was ready to leave next morning, Jim says:  “Now, Mr. Morgan, I’ll fix up them vouchers with you,” and givin’ me the wink, I let out a yell, and jabbin’ the spurs into Black Hawk, we cleared the fence and was off like a puff of dust, with the rest of ’em shootin’ and screamin’ after me like mad.

Say!  It was lovely—­and when the boys overtook me, out of sight of the house, Morgan would have been astonished to see the sheriff, his posse, and the terrible desperado doubled up in their saddles laughin’ fit to bust.

Well, sir! we never had a hitch in the proceedings for five days, and I was gettin’ to feel a sort of pride in my record as a bank-robber, forger, horse-thief, and murderer, accordin’ to the way Bennett presented it.  He certainly was the boss liar of the range.

He had a story framed up that painted me as the bloodiest young tough the Lone Star had ever produced, and it never failed to get me all the attention there was in the house.

One night we came to the best lookin’ place we’d seen, and, in answer to Jim’s summons, out walked an old man, followed by two of the prettiest girls I ever saw, who joined their father in invitin’ us in.