He does not need to be told.
Nor does he care what you have been. Your saddle-tree is much more
significant than your family tree. Still, if you have graduated in
some Far Eastern riding academy, and are, perchance, ambitious to learn
the gentle art of roping, riding them as they come, and incidentally
preserving your anatomy as an undislocated whole, it is not a bad idea
to approach the foreman on foot and clothed in unpretentious garb.
For, as this same Ulysses of the outlands said:
"Rub grease on your chaps and look wise if you will,
But the odor of tan-bark will cling round you still."
This information alone is worth considerably more than twenty cents.
Young Pete, who had not slept much, arose and prepared breakfast,
making the coffee extra strong. Montoya liked strong coffee. After
breakfast Pete made a diagonal approach to the subject of leaving.
Could he go to Concho? Montoya nodded. Would it be all right if he
made a visit to the Concho outfit over on the mesa? It would be all
right. This was too easy. Pete squirmed internally. If Montoya would
only ask why he wanted to go.
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