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"Pedro, non! Ma moder she nam' Moon Eye, an' ma fader she Cross-Cut Lajune. Derefor', A'm Batiste Xavier Jean Jacques de Beaumont Lajune." The bottle thumped upon the table top. "What the hell is that, a name or a song?" "Me, das ma nam' A'm call Batiste Xavier Jean " "Hold on there!
In front rode Bat Lajune with Purdy's horse snubbed to his saddle-horn, and immediately following him were the girl and Endicott riding side by side. Tex saw that the girl was crying, and that Endicott's hands were manacled, and that he rode the missing horse.
Slowly he pushed open the side door of the hotel and paused in the darkened hallway to stare at the crack of yellow light that showed beneath the door of Number 11. "A'm no lak' dis fool 'roun' wit' 'omen." He made a wry face and knocked gingerly. Jennie Dodds opened the door, and for a moment eyed the half-breed with frowning disfavour. "Look a here, Bat Lajune, is this on the level?
Cecelia Julius Caesar Napoleon Lajune. Here, Bat, fork over that pack-horse an' take a siyou out ahead, keepin' a lookout for posses, post holes, and grave-diggers. It's up to you to see that we pass down this vale of tears, unsight an' unsung, as the poet says, or off comes your hind legs. Amen." The half-breed grinned his understanding and handed over the lead-rope with a bit of homely advice.
From the direction of the coulee came the sound of horses' hoofs pounding the trail! Bat Lajune grinned into the dark as the galloping cow-horse carried Endicott out upon the trail of Purdy and the girl. "A'm t'ink dat wan good job. Mebbe-so de pilgrim keel Purdy, bien! Mebbe-so Purdy keel de pilgrim, den de sheriff ketch Purdy an' she got for git hang dat pret' good, too.
The girl followed his glance to the Texan who approached accompanied by Bat Lajune and a cowboy who led from the horn of his saddle a blaze-faced bay with a roman nose. As the three drew nearer the girl could see the mocking smile upon his lips as his eyes rested for a moment on Purdy. "I don't like that man," she said, as though speaking to herself, "and yet "
"Search me! I've had my hands full to keep track of what's goin' on in here, let alone outside." Without a word the Texan stepped out the back door and hastened toward the horse corral behind the livery stable. Circling its fence to the head of the alley, he stared in surprise at the spot where he and Bat Lajune had tied their horses.
An' the way he took that hangin' If he'd be'n raised right he'd sure made some tough hand. An' pilgrim or no pilgrim, the guts is there." When the Texan had departed Bat Lajune eyed the side-saddle with disgust. "Dat damn t'ing, she ain' no good. A'm git de reg'lar saddle."
Bat Lajune removed the saddle from the Texan's horse and stepped forward with the thick felt pad which Tex, with a hand in the cheek-strap of the hackamore, brushed along the outlaw's sides a few times and then deftly threw over the animal's back.
Twenty feet away in a deep crevice at the edge of the coulee, Bat Lajune, who had overheard every word, was convulsed with silent mirth. "You say they've dug up all the coulees? Red Rock an' an' all, Buffalo, Six-mile, Woodpile, Miller's?"
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