That, ma'am,"-- explanatorily to the lady, who betrayed only a languid interest,--"is to keep 'em from drawing their revolvers.
A revolver is the last thing a road agent wants, either in a man's hand or in his holster.

So I sez to myself, 'Ef a six-shooter ain't of no account, wet's the use of carryin' it ?' So I just put my shooting-iron in my valise when I travel, and fill my holster with my gold dust, so! It's a deuced sight heavier than a revolver, but they don't feel its weight, and don't keer to come nigh it.

And I've been 'held up' twice on t'other side of the Divide this year, and I passed free every time!" The applause that followed this revelation and the exhibition of the holster not only threw the farmer's exploits into the shade, but seemed to excite an emulation among the passengers.

Other methods of securing their property were freely discussed; but the excitement culminated in the leaning forward of a passenger who had, up to that moment, maintained a reserve almost equal to the fair unknown.

His dress and general appearance were those of a professional man; his voice and manner corroborated the presumption.
"I don't think, gentlemen," he began with a pleasant smile, "that any man of us here would like to be called a coward; but in fighting with an enemy who never attacks, or even appears, except with a deliberately prepared advantage on his side, it is my opinion that a man is not only justified in avoiding an unequal encounter with him, but in circumventing by every means the object of his attack.