"Of course there was more talk, but the lieutenant was a good enough kid, and when he see all the boys laughin" he give in and smiled himself.
""Well, you long-legged statue of melancholy," says he, "I suppose I"ll have to let it go, but I"ll shoot you, sure as there is shootin", if you ever play a trick like that on me again. What kind of a fool are you to stay here in the middle of an outbreak, anyhow? Now wake up your friend and come with us."
""Thanky," says I; "but hold--is the road safe to town?"
""Sure; we"ve cleaned "em, all but one bunch."
""Well," says I, "then Percy and me"ll just amble back together the way we come. I don"t want him to know nothing about any trouble."
"After chewin" for a while he consented, and away went the army.
"So bimeby Percy woke up and said he"d had a nice nap and felt refreshed and--um--invigorated, and him and me went back to town, and he never suspicioned ther"d been an Injun risin", soldiers nor nothin". I have felt like offering one hundred dollars" reward to the person who"d produce something that Percy would suspect. And whenever I think of that my spirits lift to that extent I could almost go out and get married again.
"And this here ticker I set great store by, because it come from Percy and says inside of it, "To E. G. Washington Scraggs, in memory of our beautiful friendship, from Percival Mervin"--and that to a tough old Mormon like me! Well, he was one darned nice little man."