WATCH
What’s that ye say? That yaller dogAin’t killed with handsomeness, ye low?Well, he ain’t travellin’ on his shape,I tell ye that right here an’ now.Ye wouldn’t have him follerin’you,Ner be ketched dead with him beside?Well, I don’t want no better pardWhen I tramp up the Great Divide.The beauty club shied off I guessAn’ hit him pretty middlin’ light;But looks don’t fill no empty tanks—An’ plain oldstay’swhat wins a fight.An’ that dog’s got the stayin’ powersA long sight more’n the most o’ men;He’s just clean grit an’ “stay there” mixed,An’ don’t ask no odds how an’ when.’Twas crossin’ of the Plomas Range;I’d made a right big strike, ye see,An’ ever’ loafer in the campWas hangin’ round an’ watchin’ me.So thinks I: “You’d better pull your freightBetween two suns an’ cache that dust,Unless ye want some knife to letTh’ daylight in through your ol’ crust.”Well, me an’ Watch an’ my ol’ muleJest humped ourselves fer three hull days,An’ then, sez I: “We’ll rest, ol’ pard;Nobody’s follered us this ways.”So I just cooks a bit o’ grubAn’ lays right down an’ goes to snorin’,An’ never knows another thingUntell I hear ol’ Watch a-roarin’.I jumped right up an’ into Hell—A pair o’ Greasers chokin’ me,An’ punchin’ of me with a knife—Another’n fightin’ Watch—an heJest looks at me an’ keeps a-chawin’The rascal’s throat, an’ growlin’ lowAs if to say: “Hold on, ol’ pard—I’m comin’ soon’s I git a show.”I fit an’ scratched an’ dodged that knife—An’ then my foot slipped on a stoneAn’ things looked dark—but next I knowedOl’ Watch was playin’ it alone.He dropped his man an’ tackled mine—An’ when my head got clear aginI see a pile o’ rags an’ truckWhere them three Greaser thieves had bin.An’ that ol’ dog was guardin’ me,An’ lickin’ of my hands an’ face—An’ him just red with drippin’ blood—There wasn’t nary yaller placeOn his ol’ hide frum head to foot.I’se most as bad—but I caught that muleAn’ somehow histed me an’ WatchUp on ’er back—the night was cool—An’ we lit out—an’ long near dayI hear ’way off a rooster crowin’—An’ jest what happened after thatI haint no certain way o’ knowin’;Fer next I knowed I hear a voiceThat kep’ a tellin’ me: “Be still—Jest swaller this here mighty quick,An’ when ye’ve et an’ drunk yer fillI’ll let ye talk. Th’ dog, ye say?Oh! he’s all right—he saved yer skin;Come howlin’ here ’fore break o’ day,An’ we lit out an’ brung ye in—Him leadin’ right to where you lay—Down crost th’ wash an’ up th’ hill—Live? Course he’ll live. Now you hol’ on—This haint your talk—you jes’ keep still.”So I lays still—an’ Watch does too—Jest sort o’ laid up fer repairs,Fer weeks an’ weeks—till last we gotAs hearty as a pair o’ bears.Then we lit out—a-headin’ straightBack to th’ ol’ home in Mizzury—An’ me an’ Watch’ll settle downAn’ take our ease, I jest assure ye.An’ any feller that thinks our looksHaint up to par, ner apt to mashTh’ most o’ folks, kin have his say—But me an’ Watch has got th’ cash.An’ its cash that counts—clean cash an’ grit;An’ Watch has got th’ grit, I low,An’ me th’ cash—an’ we two’s pards—But he’s th’ best I tell ye now.An’ when Life’s fight is fit an’ done,An’ we go crost th’ Great Divide,W’y Watch an’ me has made it upThat we’ll be planted side by side.