human
Well, they did it in history, she defended at last, her cheeks redder than was perfectly normal.
gpt
I read about it--at Waterloo when the Duke of Wellington--wasn't it? You needn't laugh as if it couldn't be done. It was that sunken-road business put it into my head in the first place; and I think you ought to feel flattered.
human
I do, gasped Ward, wiping his eyes.
gpt
Say, I was some bandit, wasn't I, William Louisa?
human
No, you weren't any bandit at all--then. You were a kind scout, that time. I was here, all surrounded by Indians and saying the Lord's prayer with my hair all down my back like mommie's Rock of Ages picture--will you shut up laughing?--and you came riding up that draw over there on a big, black horse named Sultan (You needn't snort; I still think Sultan's a dandy name for a horse!). And you hollered to me to get behind that rock, over there. And I quit at 'Forgive us our debts'--daddy always had so many!--and hiked for the rock. And you commenced shooting-- Oh, I'm not going to tell you a single other pretend! She sulked then, which was quite as diverting as the most hair-raising
gpt
Sing the _Chisholm Trail_, she commanded, when her temper was sunshiny again. This had been a particularly moody day for Ward, and Billy Louise felt that extra effort was required to rout the memory-devils.
human
Daddy knew a little of it, and old Jake Summers used to sing more, but I never did hear it all.
gpt
Ladies don't, as a general thing,
human
Why? I know there's about forty verses, and some of them are kind of sweary ones; but go ahead and sing it. I don't mind damn now and then.
gpt
I'll sing all of _Sam Bass_, if you like,
human
Oh, I hate _Sam Bass_! We had a Dutchman working for us when I was just a kid, and he was forever bawling out: 'Sa-am Pass was porn in Injiany, it was-s hiss natiff ho-o-ome!'
gpt
I've always wanted to hear the _Chisholm Trail_. I know how it was sung from Mexico north on the old cattle-trails, and how every ambitious puncher who had enough imagination and could make a rhyme, added a verse or so, till it's really a--a classic of the cow-camps.
human
Ye-es--it sure is all that.
gpt
And with that memory of yours, I simply know that you can sing every single word of it, Billy Louise went on pitilessly--and innocently.
human
You're a cowpuncher yourself, and you must have heard it all, at one time and another; and I don't believe you ever forgot a thing in your life. She caught her breath there, conscience-stricken, and added hastily and imperiously,
gpt
So go on--begin at the beginning and sing it all. I'll keep tab and see if you sing forty verses.
human
Come along, boys, and listen to my tale, I'll tell you of my troubles on the old Chisholm trail, Coma ti yi--