At last he did what I wanted: I stood so close I could snuff up nosefuls of his musty smell, and he snipped the curls from my head one by one.

At a signal from Horko's box there was an all-out, slam-bang, grand salute of the guns and with it a pounding of the deep liquid bass drums.

That gun's not mine! It's a plant! I've never seen it before!

He worked the loose knot free and shook the contents out into his hand. A small bone fell out first and Cody grinned, despite the grisly scene. “That's a coon-dick toothpick.”