Butch

“ Gallagher said; “and watch out fer them. They’re pretty tough kids!”
“I’m scairt to death already, Gallagher!” roared Butch. “Dago’s the man for this job. Why he’d be sick at the thought of it. When he has nightmares it’s on account o’ dreamin’ of these kids here!”
Alone with the boys Butch ordered them to sit on a bench along the opposite wall while he regaled himself with cigarettes and the only easy chair in the underground room. Bluff, sloppy, big-mouthed, Butch would hardly have been recognized as the mean and wanton killer that he really was. ”

“ She studied Butch curiously. “And lose the money?”
“Ten thousand dollars is a lot of money,” he said slowly. “It would shore be great to have that much money—and be alive to enjoy it. But it wouldn’t do yuh a bit of good to have it comin’ to yuh, unless yuh was alive to enjoy it.”
Della knew what Butch meant. He was still loyal enough to Marsh to not make a definite statement, but she understood that he was warning her to keep away from the Triangle X ranch.
“Thank yuh, Butch,” she said simply. “I guess I’ll play your hunch.” ”

“ Crossing over to the south side of Honey Lake Valley, we followed it up to Captain Bird's old ranche.
After passing it, we found every house and farm empty and stripped of all that was in any way portable. The whole of the stock had also been driven off. But for the tramp of our hoofs, this portion of the valley would have been as silent as a desert.
"I'd say, Cap!" exclaimed Butch', "the cuss'd red devils had been here, too—only there are no dead men, laying round promisc'ous like." ”

“ To Butch, as to Gangland in general, morality was as so much lost motion. And, just as time-is money among honest folk, so was motion money with Butch and his predatory kind. Old Jimmy correctly laid down the Gangland position, which was Butch's position. Said old Jimmy:
“Morality is all to the excellent for geeks with dough to burn an' time to throw away. It's right into the mitts of W'ite Chokers, who gets paid for bein' good an' hire out to be virchuous for so much a year. But of what use is morality to a guy along the Bowery? ”

“ Butch demanded.
“Maybe,” the purist admitted, “but a lady ain't no skirt. I don't stand for no raw stuff, see?”
Butch, who was quite innocent of any such intent, was indignant.
“Who's raw?” he demanded.
Nobody better be,” Chuck returned.
“Speakin' of raw stuff,” Butch retorted, “what do you think you pulled when she was tryin' to show you how to act? Youse put me in mind of Joe Walcott in a clinch.”
Which jarred Chuck badly, as containing a certain amount of truth. But he had no adequate comeback.
“Where do you get off at buttin' in wit' that crack you made about me and girls?” ”

“ O'Hara's parting speech had not improved their tempers. For some minutes they walked in silence. Then said Butch:
“I've a good notion to quit this movie game.”
“I would if I was you,” said Chuck sourly.
“At that,” Butch stated, “I done better than you.”
“All you got to do is to act tough,” Chuck retorted; “and for you that ain't no actin' at all.”
“If you call what you're doin' actin',” Butch returned, “all I got to say is you oughta take a look at yourself once. You make a swell college guy—not. But I'm goin' to help you look like one.” ”

“ I resent the presumption of "science" that pretends to evolve the intricate convolutions of a living human brain out of the shape of a digit cut from a dead hand, and labels it "criminal type." Daily association dispels the myth of the "species," and reveals the individual. Growing intimacy discovers the humanity beneath fibers coarsened by lack of opportunity, and brutalized by misery and fear. There is "Reddie" Butch, a rosy-checked young fellow of twenty-one, as frank-spoken a boy as ever honored a striped suit. A jolly criminal is Butch, with his irrepressible smile and gay song. ”

“ Then Somerville, doing his road work, comes along and interferes. You're starting to mix it when a car full of sports comes along and stops you.
“You're sore, Butch. This mix-up shows you that he'll be a hard man to beat, and you're pretty sure that Betty has given away your pet punch, So you frame it with your sparring partner to quit you, and go over to Somerville's camp and get a job.”
“Who's me sparrin' partner?” Butch queried.
“That's so,” O'Hara admitted. “I never thought of that. We'll have to get somebody. For effect I'd like to get a colored boxer.” ”

“ Man ought to be allowed to steal something if he risks his neck to do it. Which of 'em is going to ride for the old sport?"
"Not any," said Butch. "He's went and made a steeplchase jock out of the coon."
"Good night!" said Newby, with explosive emphasis. "Why, McGuire and Duffy and the rest of those mick riders will murder him the first time around the field!"
"That being the case," said Butch, "it's up to us to send flowers about Sunday week. Isaiah is entered for a week from Thursday. He ain't got a thing to beat except Prince Wang and Arabi—the two best jumpers that ever came West. ”

“ Marsh smiled grimly. “I’m not in the habit of using a neck-yoke, Butch. The boy is just a little wild, that’s all.”
“Yeah, and he drinks too much, talks too much, and he’s too previous with a gun. He thinks he’s a little tin god. Don’t take my word for it, Marsh; ask the rest of the gang. I’ve got as forked a bunch as ever bunked together, and they’ll tell you that yore kid is a bad man and a damned fool, all wrapped in one package.”
“He will outgrow it, Butch.”
“Jist like a cow outgrows her horns. ”

“ We’re crowded, and he’s so hard to take care of when we get to Deerpath. Don’t you remember all the trouble we had the last time you took him along? Do you remember how he got away from you and started throwing lemons and oranges around in the store?”
Butch put both hands to his heart in an attitude of prayerful entreaty. Everyone laughed, even Mom.
“Well, all right this time,” she said, “but never again.”
Davey settled down blissfully on Grandma’s lap, and Butch sat on Davey’s lap. They looked like a happy three-layer banana cake. ”

“ Remember, she's your gyurl, your sweetheart that he's treating rough. Remember her old man has a million—if that will help you. Register anger, indignation. You butt in fast and hard. You tear him loose. Then he makes a swipe at you, and, of course, you come right back at him. Try it now. Ready? Go! And for the love of Heaven put some punch into it!”
His last injunction was obeyed to the letter. Chuck caught Butch by the arm with a savage twist; and Butch immediately unhooked a vicious right that landed solidly. In a split second there was a rough-house realistic enough for even O'Hara. ”

“ Chuck pointed out. “You get money up and wise us, and either me or Butch will drop dead any round you say.”
“That's crooked,” said Mr. Costigan severely.
“Well?” said Chuck.
“And you couldn't get away with it,” Mr. Costigan added, more convincingly.
“We'd do it right,” Butch assured him. “We know how.”
“I guess you do,” Mr. Costigan admitted. “I'll think it over, but I don't see it now. The fighting game ain't what it used to be.”
“It's our business,” Butch lamented, “an' they've went an' ruined it on us. How are we goin' to eat? Tap some guy on the bean, or what?” ”

“ Occasionally he varied the dull monotony of simple burglary by truck-hopping.
Man cannot live by burglary alone, and Butch was not without his gregarious side. Seeking comradeship, he united himself with the Eastman gang. ”

“ The boys heard a hint that the cattlemen had a meetin’ to-night at the JK ranch, but it was too late for any of us to sneak out and see what it was all about.
“That gang is all suspicious of us, Marsh. Everybody in this valley kinda look sideways at us.”
“Was Blaze Nolan at that meeting, Butch?”
“I dunno who was there. I don’t believe he was though. He ain’t so well liked around here. They all know you bought that bank, and that their mortgages are hogtied.”
“I’m buying the War Dance Saloon, Butch.”
“Yeah? That’s fine. And while yo’re here, I wish you’d step on yore kid. ”

“ Lark leaned over her shoulder to shout, "that coon's goin' to spend the rest of his days at the Meddalark and help you cook. Darn his black hide—and Butch too. He ast me fer a job and I turned him down cold. Lemme past, will yuh, Bonnie? I want to ketch him b'fore he gits outside. My Jonah, about the worst thing can happen a feller is to be accused of somethin' he ain't guilty of. Hey, Butch! Butch! Bud! You 'n' Butch come awn over here! ”

“ Alden had sagged back against the left rear wheel of the buckboard, but now he whipped away his coat and drew a six-shooter from inside the waistband of his trousers. With what seemed a single motion, Cultus drew and fired. Alden fired too, but his bullet sang over the top of the War Dance, when his arm crumpled at the elbow.
At the sound of the shot, Butch Van Deen sprang outside. He had already drawn his gun, but before he could understand just what had taken place out there, Cultus fired twice in rapid succession, and Butch fell backward through the open doorway. ”

“ If any one was imagined to have aided and abetted his flight it was myself and Harry Arnold. In fact, as we were riding back to Susanville, Butch' could not help saying:
"I'm darned if yer didn't manage the thing well, Mose."
After this, none of us again alluded to it. Life was too active and full of daily excitement, to give us time for recalling such an event after it had reckoned itself with the doings of the past.
Only once since then, did I hear anything of "Fatty." He had been seen by a trapper on the Humboldt River, and had then said he was on the way to Salt Lake City. ”

“ It was with no small degree of pride that I contemplated her large size, for the bullet had passed through her brain, as clearly as in any shot I ever made, and she died in her tracks, mutely and gravely as any Indian brave, whose death-struggles have been chronicled by the novelist. Then, taking her two cubs under my arms, I returned to camp. Butch' skinned the grizzly. Bill on this occasion officiated as butcher. ”

“ Pah-ute as bad, only Smoky-creek Sam some worse."
Without pausing to discuss his exceeding Irish summary of the merits of the original tribe, and those who had absconded or been expelled from it, we immediately returned to our camp, being joined upon our way by Butch' Hasbrouck, who had also detected the same camp-fires.
"How far off, Butch', did you believe the red-skins were?"
"Ten miles will bring yer to 'em."
"He right!" sententiously observed the Indian who had accompanied me. ”

“ Anybody, even the Shuruff a-lookin’ at him would know that that boy couldn’t do nuthin’ wrong, he couldn’t kill a man....
Butch
Elly!
Elly
He couldn’t even hurt any one’s feelin’s! And besides,—his story’s as good as yourn. They’d know w’at he said wuz the truth! You got to try some other plan, Butch. You got to try to get away. You got to sneak out in the woods an’ hide a day or two. I’ll take you grub t’ eat some way. Then when things blows over more we’ll light out fer Texas till they fergit all about us. You could hide close to the old sawmill some’er’s. ”

“ Butch replied honestly. “This fancy-punch stuff is bunk. What you do in a fight, if the other guy don't like the rough stuff and wants to box you, you tear right into him from the gong; or, if he likes it that way and tears into you, you stall along and cover up, an' lay on him in the clinches an' make him do the breakin', all the referee'll let you, till he loses his steam; an' then——”
“How many times do I have to tell you this is the screen?” O'Hara interrupted. “The punch is the idea of a frame-up, of crooked work, you're putting over on the audience, if you can understand that. ”

“ One morning, while on Willow Creek, we fell in with five Pah-utes. It was a surprise party both for them and us, and a luckless surprise for the red-skins. There was no chance for their showing fight. We were nearly five times their own number. Neither could they fly; we had surrounded them. Butch' had at once recognized upon them portions of old Pierson's clothing and some of Hattie's trinkets. We could not shoot them down in cold blood, and after a brief council, decided upon disarming and taking them with us as prisoners to Susanville. ”

“ It was a yearling, Buck could easily see even at that distance, and he almost laughed aloud at the sudden let-down of suspense. By this time a little 146 individual trick of carriage made him suspect that the foremost puncher was Butch Siegrist, and when the men came into clearer view, he recognized scarcely without question the big sorrel with white trimmings on which Kreeger had ridden off that morning. ”

“ Ufert, gone sullen, obeyed. He was at that age between youth and manhood when the blood, despite the songs of the poets, runs slow, cold; before the heart has been called out in love, or even in friendship; before fear or hate or anything saving a deep egoism has possessed the brain.
He looked about to the others for his cue. What he saw disturbed him. Shorty Kilrain, like a boy caught playing truant, edged little by little back against the rock; Butch Conklin, his eyes staring, had grown waxy pale; Steve Nash himself was sullen and gloomy rather than defiant. ”

“ You better eat yore meal and use yore brains.”
“Who could have told them that Blaze Nolan was to be at my house, except Blaze Nolan?” wondered Marsh aloud. “By God, that’s why he was late in getting there. He gave them a chance to get there ahead of him. That’s it! I’m a fool, Butch. He said he lost his money in a poker game.”
“And another thing,” said Butch ominously. “You better not be too promiscuous around Medicine Tree, Marsh. If what we think is true, you’ll hang up on the hot end of a bullet—and not a jury in Arizona would convict the man who shot yuh.” ”