Page:Saga of Billy the Kid.djvu/168

constructive, the other obstructive; one a representative of the progressive present, the other of a dying past; one a type that would soon be dominant; the other a type that would soon be extinct. The governor was an intellect; the Kid a trigger finger.

The Kid did not recognize the gulf. He showed no sign of embarrassment. He seemed as much at ease as if he had been accustomed to meeting governors every day. The trigger fingers of humanity take small account of social distinctions. A bullet will make as short work of a king as of a pauper. If there was any embarrassment, it was on the governor's side. He showed the slight embarrassment of surprise.

"You don't look at all as I had pictured you in my mind," said the governor.

"No?" The Kid smiled. "I left my horns and forked tail back at camp."

"Not that." The governor raised a deprecating palm. "But I had heard stories about you. If a man of whom I have heard or read interests me, I always visualize him." It was the novelist talking. "I formed a vivid mental image of you. I was quite sure you had beetling brows, black hair, and black, piercing eyes."

"And looked like a dead tough hombre," added the Kid with a laugh. "Well, yes. But here you are a clean-cut, good-looking boy. You don't look bad."

The Kid declined to argue the point.

"How old are you?"

"Nineteen."

"I am―let me see-just thirty-two years older than you. Old enough to be your father. So, Billy, I am going to talk to you like a father."