Raymond S. Spears

“ Hesbern, he wanted an empty bottle, an’ Cock Eye he said afterwards what Hesbern needed was a nipple on to it; yes, sir, that’s what he said! My golly, but the way he said it was comical. No sir! Long’s I live I’ll never forget it!”
“Well, boys! Le’s drink to Cock Eye Baer,” the proprietor said. “It’s on the house. Bright of tongue; everybody’s friend; always all there; big hearted and square dealing. He could crack a joke an’ handle a situation. A man’s man, old Cock Eye! He lived on the level an’ he died in his boots. ”

“ That stroller bought two quarts to the Claybank—”
“Aw right, Sam! I’m ready!”
Then two men came in from the alley, hurrying.
“Say, that feller Hesbern bought two quarts down to the Claybank, er somers. We seen ’im emptyin’ it out back jes’ now!”
“Pretendin’ to liquor up, eh?” Cock Eye grimaced. “An’ keepin’ steady, eh—huh!”
“That’s so,” an awed whisper ran around, some one saying, “Better get set, Cock Eye!”
The bartender swallowed obviously, his beady little eyes rolling in their fat sockets. He took a couple of slugs himself. He needed a bracer. He was a humorist, not a fighting man. ”

“ You did hit it, didn’t you, Cock Eye? You jes’ knowed it was for a baby— Huh! Water, too. Say, tha’s funny, ain’t it? Cock Eye spots a feller wants an empty bottle f’r a baby. What’d he want a clean bottle f’r, anyhow?”
“He didn’t know’t was for a warmer. He thought it was to feed the kid out of. Old woman sent him for it. He come here.”
“Tha’s funny—come here f’r an empty bottle!” one of the boys laughed. “Le’s have a drink!”
Around the Square in Boxelder the boys told about Cock Eye, the empty bottle and the stroller down at the campground, where there was a lady had a baby. ”

“ At the same time he wasn’t deficient when it came to a showdown. He’d bashed in a man’s skull, served as a bouncer innumerable times, and had come clear on the charge of shooting Dingo Washington in self-defense. ”