midnight
The two cow-punchers I finds in charge is scared to a standstill ; they allows this Kingman 's ha ` nted . They tells me how two parties who once abides thar -- father an ' son they be -- gets downed by a hold-up whose aim is pillage , an ' who comes cavortin ' along an ' butchers said fam ` ly in their sleep . The cow-punchers declar 's they hears the spooks go scatterin ' about the room as late as the night before I trails in . I ca ` ms 'em -- not bein ' subject to nerve stampedes myse ` f , an ' that same midnight when the sperits comes ha ` ntin ' about ag ` in , I turns outen my blankets an ' lays said spectres with the butt of my mule whip -- the same when we strikes a light an ' counts 'em up bein ' a couple of kangaroo rats . This yere would front up for a mighty thrillin ' tale if I throws myse ' f loose with its reecital an ' daubs in the colour plenty vivid an ' free . `` Then thar 's the time I swings over to the K-bar-8 ranch for corn -- bein ' I 'm out of said cereal -- an ' runs up on a cow gent , spurs , gun-belt , big hat an ' the full regalia , hangin ' to the limb of a cottonwood , dead as George the Third , an ' not a hundred foot from the ranch door . An ' how inside I finds a half-dozen more cow folks , lookin ' grave an ' sayin ' nothin ' ; an ' the ranch manager has a bloody bandage about his for ` ead , an ' another holdin ' up his left arm , half bandage an ' half sling , the toot ensemble , as Colonel Sterett calls it , showin ' sech recent war that the blood 's still wet on the cloths an ' drops on the floor as we talks .