CIVILIZATION AT HEART'S DESIRE _How the Men of Heart's Desire surrendered to the Softening Seductions of Croquet and other Pastimes_ "Go on, Curly, it's your next shot.

Hurry up," said McKinney, who was nervous.
"Now you just hold on, Mac," replied the former.

"This here croquet is a new style of shootin', and with two dollars on the game I ain't goin' to be hurried none." "It ain't a half-decent outfit, either," complained Doc Tomlinson.
"Hay wire ain't any good for croquet arches; and as for these here balls and mallets you bought sight-unseen by mail, they're a disgrace to civilization." "_Pronto_! _Pronto_! Hurry up!" called Dan Anderson from his perch on the fence of Whiteman's corral, from which he was observing what was probably the first game of croquet ever played between the Pecos and Rio Grande rivers.

There were certain features of the contest in question which were perhaps not usual.

Indeed, I do not recall ever to have seen any other game of croquet in which two of the high contracting parties wore "chaps" and spurs and the other two overalls and blue shirts.