Me and my good partners
We were riding back to our camp
We were feeling very fine
The air was clear and slightly damp

We were riding back to have ourselves a party
To celebrate the robbing of the train
We were talking kind of low and lazy
'Bout not having to go out soon again (oh yeah)

You know we hadn't been back home two hours
We heard a hawk cry out in the night
And you know that's a signal from young Billy, who's our sentry
He's saying something here ain't exactly right, oh

Quick grabbed some of our hardware
Stumbled out of our home
Two minutes flat we had found her
An Indian girl all alone

And Eli said, "Let's take her back to the cabin"
I said, "You don't know she might be the law, yeah"
He said, smiling kind of nasty
"It ain't too damn likely she'll beat me to the draw" (oh, oh no)

We were walking back through the darkness
I heard the Duke, he's our dynamiter, say
He said, "What's your name, sweet little Indian girl?"
She said, "Raven" and she looked away
Right then I didn't trust her, no, and I said so (oh no)

Now, Eli, he's our fastest gunner
He's kind of mean and young from the South
He said, "Fat Albert, you're getting kind of old and weird now"
You'd better get your twelve gauge shotgun mighty damned fast
And I did, oh, you know I

Now Eli and the Duke they got down to it
They each wanted the Indian girl for their own
When they finally got around to asking her
You know she said she'd come to take young Billy home (oh no, no, no)

Eli said he'd kill young Billy
He'd kill the Duke, and probably me too, yeah
The Indian girl said, "Go ahead now do it"
I said, "Stop it", and she bit my thumb nearly clean through, yeah

And when they finally started to break down the door, yeah
I smeared my face up with blood from my thumb, yeah
I laid down on the floor and played real good possum
You know I'm crazy but I ain't real dumb, oh no

Now I'm dying here in Albuquerque
I must be the sorriest sight you ever saw
You know the reason I'm the only man here to tell it
You know that Indian girl, she wasn't an Indian, she was the law, oh