I finished Piotto with my bare hands." "Broke his back, eh ?" "Me?
Whoever heard of breakin' a man's back?
Ha, ha, ha! You been hearin' fairy tales, son.

Nope, I choked the old rat." "Were you badly hurt ?" Lawlor searched his memory hastily; there was no information on this important point.
"Couple of grazes," he said, dismissing the subject with a tolerant wave of the hand.

"Nothin' worth talkin' of." "I see," nodded Bard.
It occurred to Lawlor that his guest was taking the narrative in a remarkably philosophic spirit.

He reviewed his telling of the story hastily and could find nothing that jarred.
He concluded: "That was the way of livin' in them days.

They ain't no more--they ain't no more!" "And now," said Anthony, "the only excitement you get is out of books--and running the labourers ?" He had picked up the book which Lawlor had just laid down.
"Oh, I read a bit now and then," said the cowpuncher easily, "but I ain't much on booklearnin'." Bard was turning the pages slowly.