. I
got memories I wouldn't sell fer a farm. Them wer' days you didn't
find trouble in nothin'. No. It's later on you see things diff'rent.
Make good, an' you see troubles wher' there shouldn't be none. You an'
me we're guessin' to make a pile o' dollars, so we could set up a
palace on 5th Av'noo, New York, if we was yearnin' that-a-way. I don't
reckon there's many fellers 'ud find trouble in such a play as that.
Wal, I'd be willing enough to turn it all down, an' pitch camp right
here among these hills, an' chase pelts for the few dollars needed to
keep the wind from rattling my bones--'cep' fer Nan."

"Ah yes--Nan. There's Nan to think of. And Nan's more to you, Bud,
than anything else in life. Say, your little girl's a bright jewel. I
don't need to say a word about her value, eh? But some day you're
going to lose her. And then?"

Bud's eyes came round upon him and for some moments encountered Jeff's
steady regard. Then he looked away, and slowly all its simple delight
dropped from the strong weather-tanned face, to be replaced by an
almost painful dejection. Presently he turned again, and, in a moment,
Jeff found an added interest in the wonderful scene that lay ahead of
him.

"Nan's a fine, good gal," Bud declared, with simple earnestness.
"Guess she's her mother over again--only she's jest Nan. Nan's more to
me than all the dollars in creation, boy. Guess you're right. Oh,
yes, you're right--sure." The man brushed aside the beads of sweat
from his broad forehead. "An' Nan's goin' to do jest as she notions.
She's goin' to live around her home as long as she feels that way.
When she don't feel that way she's goin' to quit. When she feels like
choosin' a man fer herself--why, I'm goin' to do all I know helpin' her
that way. But it's goin' to be her choice, boy. An' when that time
comes, why, I'll get right down on my knees an' pray A'mighty God he's
the feller for her, an' the man I'm hopin' she'll choose, an' that he
wants her, same as she wants him."

Then he shook his head and a deep sigh escaped him.

"But I don't know. It don't seem to me reasonable. Y' see, the luck's
run all my way so far, an' I don't guess you can keep on dealin' the
cards without 'em gettin' right up an' handin' it you plenty--some
time."

Jeff had no reply. Something warned him to keep silent. The older man
in his earnest simplicity had opened out to him a vista which he felt
he had no right to gaze upon.