His Royal Nibs by Winnifred Eaton Reeve — Read

Holy Smoke was strong as an ox and had the reputation of phenomenal deeds done "across the line," where to use his own boasts "they did things brown. " It is true, he had come hastily out of that particular part of the American union, with a posse at his heels. He had secured a berth at O Bar O in a busy season, when help was scarce and work heavy. His big physique stood him in good stead when it came to a matter of endurance, though he was too heavy for swift riding, needed for breaking horses or cutting out cattle. However, there was no man in the country could beat him at lariat throwing and he was generally esteemed a first-rate hand. His last name was actually "Smoke," and his first initial H it did not take the men long to dub him "Holy Smoke" though he was more shortly called "Ho."

Other nicknames were secretly applied to him. Secretly because Ho had achieved such a reputation as a fighter that few of the men cared to risk his displeasure by calling him to his face "Windy Ho" or "Blab. " His was the aggressive, loud-voiced overbearing type of personality that by sheer noise often will win out in an argument and makes an impression on those who are not expert students of character. Few at O Bar O questioned the prowess of which Ho everlastingly boasted, for he looked the part he played. His favourite boast was that he "could lick any son-of-a-gun in Alberta, just as I licked every son-of-a-gun in Montana" with one hand tied behind. No one accepted his challenge, pugnaciously tossed forth, and little Buddy Wallace, one of P. D. 's diminutive jockies, hurriedly retreated when the big fellow merely stretched out a clinched fist toward him.