And Bill they feared and hated more than any man in town.
Bill had a fist as hard as rock, he measured six feet two;
And we were kind of wondering to know what Bill would do.
Big Gurgot came and banged his fist and rattled at Bill's door;
The two had met and Gurgot burned to settle up the score.
When Bill appeared he didn't seem to be surprised at all,
His woman stood beside him there, and Buddy, slim and tall.
"Come out of this, it's time to move; you've got no business here!"
Said Jurgot, and he curled his lip into a wolfish sneer. . . .
Bills fists were clenched, his knuckle bones were slowly growing white.
His jaw was set, his eyes grew cold; we feared there'd be a fight
Bill knew too well the penalty to play into their game,
He sniffed and smiled an ugly smile, but came out just the same.
We knew that this was hard for Bill—we knew it made him sore,
For he had licked that Baldwin pup a time or two before.
And we, we saw the bluish glint upon each army gun
We felt the menace of their lead and cursed them, every one.
And we knew that somewhere handy a machine gun stand was set
46
