The Greatest Westerns of Ernest Haycox. Ernest Haycox

Nothin's booked to happen till after seven."

      "Well enough," said the Englishman. "I shall get whatever newspapers are available and settle right yonder in the porch rocking chair for some leisurely reading. Give me the appropriate gesture when you are ready."

      "Read?" grunted Steve, whose increasing nervous tension would not let him be still. "Imagine that!"

      "Well, yes," murmured Nightingale, sauntering away. "People have been known to do it."

      Steve rolled to the nearest building wall and leaned against it. Under the pretext of building a smoke he ran his glance from one end of the street to the other. Sundown seemed unduly empty until he caught partial sight of a crowd inside the courthouse. Promptly he strolled across and went in, his entry marked by a sharp gavel tap. The judge was speaking.

      "...Thus with all the evidence before me, I am bound to render decision. Litigants will remember that while the broad and noble structure of the law incorporates and irradiates the sum of human wisdom and human error of the toiling centuries, it is not meet to say that it represents always infallible justice. The law is both an embodiment of common sense and arbitrary rule, without which confusion would reign sans end. The law is an increasingly crystallized thing, a thing of tangible substance, form, and shape. The forms of the law are, as it were, the ribs which hold in the essence of the social body, and if, perchance, some of that essence should trickle through those ribs and fall wasted to the receptive earth, we can only say that nothing conceived by mortal man is perfect, and nothing conceived by mortal man will ever cover the infinite vagaries of social experience and the multitudinous variations of human conduct. With that in mind this court made the attempt to bring plaintiff and defendant into harmony before trial. Failing, this action ensued, dragging its weary lucubrations over the diurnal face of the calendar."

      The court paused and scratched its judicial nose.

      Up from the packed and stricken silence wavered a faint cry.

      "True, brother, true."

      Sheriff Ortez leaned against Steve and whispered, "All this fer a six-dollar pony on the aidge of nervous breakdown. Nobuddy can say the judge ain't give 'em their money's worth."

      "In re Wilgus versus Tuggs," stated the court, "concerning the identity and ownership of one male horse of problematical age, unknown antecedents, and endless branding, we find for the plaintiff. So entered."

      Wilgus rose grinning from his seat and yelled. "I said it was my hoss all the time and I could of told you in the beginning! What's mine's mine, and I'll have it! Let that be a lesson to you, Tuggs!"

      The gavel slammed down. "Five dollars for contempt of this court," said the judge.

      Wilgus subsided, muttering. Fear Langdell rose. "Your honor, may I thank you for the just verdict? To my client this represents a sweeping corroboration of a principle. And now I should like to present the bill of costs, to be entered against the defendant for payment."

      "You bet," mumbled Wilgus. "He lost. Let him pay."

      "The clerk will read the bill of costs," said the court.

      The clerk accepted the statement from Langdell, shifted his tobacco and read without emotion.

      "'...Do swear the following items have been personally and beforehand paid by plaintiff, as follows:

      "'To stable rent at Grover's two weeks—$ 15.00

       To extra feed—37.75

       To 45 bales hay, extra bedding on acc't feeble condition of animal in question—22.50

       To carpenter work, knocking out stall for extra space, also on acc't feeble condition—12.50

       To material, same—8.30

       To damage to Grover's stable, knocking out stall—11.00

       To lost rent on stall so knocked out—15.00

       To special stable hand to care for horse in lieu of sheriff—12.50

       To veterinarian's calls, 14 @ $5 per each—70.00

       To medicine, same—16.20

       To veterinarian's night calls, 4 @ $10—40.00

       To ten witnesses, 1 day @ $3—3.00

       To four witnesses, 2 days @ $3—24.00

       To state veterinarian, subpoenaed to testify as to brands of horse; witness fee, 1 day @ $3—3.00

       To state veterinarian, travel exp—36.37

       To same, board and lodging same—41.40

       To incidentals—19.60

       To same—1.00

       TOTAL—$416.12'"

      The court looked at Al Niland, found no objections, and said, "So entered."

      Wilgus could be heard again, murmuring his shocked surprise to Langdell. "Great guns, Fear, you sure did lay it out. I told yuh to go ahead, but I never did think it would come that high. Supposin' I'd lost and had to pay?"

      All through the courtroom was a mutter of discontent. The gallery gods found this an unhappy ending to the thus far splendid entertainment. Tuggs sat miserably downcast. But Al Niland rose, smiling in that tight and gleaming manner Sundown knew presaged trouble. The silence became absolute again. Niland cleared his throat and made a generous gesture toward Wilgus. "I congratulate you in having won a victory of principle. To such a man of principle as all Yellow Hill knows you to be, the verdict must be especially pleasing. There seems at this juncture nothing for the defendant to do but pay the bill and bear up. In so far as Tuggs is able to do these things he will. Fortunately we spent very little on the case, having little to spend. I think our costs will run about twelve dollars. A kind friend of Tuggs's was generous enough to pay this. As to the bill just rendered by the plaintiff, we will willingly pay all that we are able, and to that end Tuggs has itemized for me a list of all his earthly possessions. They include, two blankets, three quilts, some dishes, the suits of clothes he wears, a mouth organ, and one valise. Estimated value, five dollars at forced sale, excluding the suit of clothes, which by law he is entitled to keep. Therefore, your honor, we will pay over the five dollars readily, leaving Mr. Wilgus out of pocket only $411.12."

      The ensuing roar almost lifted the ceiling of the room. The judge stood up and banged his gavel viciously; and above all this turmoil and fury rose the agonized screech of Fleabite Wilgus. "I'll see about that! It ain't so! I won't stand a penny of it! I'll slap an attachment, a lien on every gol-blasted thing he's got! There's stock—there's implements—!"

      "Silence in this court!" bellowed the judge.

      "You can't skin me!" cried Wilgus, and shook his fist at the judge. "You neither, you mealy-mouthed son-of-a-gun!"

      "Twenty-five dollars for contempt!" said his honor.

      Niland still stood and still smiled. His answering words quieted the room. "For a man of principle, Mr. Wilgus, you should not object to the price. If you can find anything to attach other than the aforementioned articles, go to it. Tuggs rents the place he lives on. He rents the implements, the harness, the very wood he lights his fire with. He had five head of milk stock, which by strange coincidence he sold twenty-four hours before the papers in this suit were filed. He has one horse, loaned to him by the late David Denver. Other than that he has nothing. The horse you might have bought for twenty dollars now costs you better than four hundred. It's the principle of the thing, Mr. Wilgus."

      Wilgus shook his fist at his attorney. "Yore a fine lawyer! Why didn't you tell me he didn't have nothin'? What made you run up them bills so high, anyhow?"

      Through all this Langdell had remained aloof and very faintly amused. He stopped Wilgus curtly. "I said you might be better off buying the horse, Wilgus. I said you would gain nothing otherwise. Please be kind enough to stop moving your fist in my face!"

      "You paid them bills out of your own pocket!" shouted Wilgus. "Just try and get any money outa me! You'll see!"

      "The money," said Langdell, so quietly that only the front rows heard it, "has already