I never took any cattle!" An impulse to walk seized him, and he did so, quietly, steadily, until he met a stranger, a man whose clothing bespoke his residence in another region.
"Good morning, gentle sir," said Ike.
"Good morning, friend," said the other, smiling.
"Gentle sir," said Ike, "just lemme look at your watch a minute, won't you, please ?" Laughingly the stranger complied, suspecting only that his odd accoster might have tarried too long over his cups.

Ike took the watch in his hand, looked at it gravely for a moment, then gave it a jerk that broke the chain, and dropped it into his own pocket.
"I like it," said he simply, and passed on.

The stranger followed, about to use violence, but caught sight of a white-faced man, who through a window vehemently beckoned him to pause.
Ike Anderson stepped into a saloon and took a straw from a glass standing on the bar, exercising an exact and critical taste in its selection.

"I'm very thirsty," he remarked plaintively.

Saying which, he shot a hole in a barrel of whisky, inserted the straw, and drank lingeringly.
"Thank you," he said softly, and shot the glass of straws off the counter.