wantin' that kerridge just
now; ye ken drive around and hev a private jamboree all by yourself the
rest of the afternoon, and then come and wait for me at the top o' the
hill yonder."

Thus quit of his gorgeous equipage, he hurried back to Uncle Jim,
grasping his ten-thousand dollar draft in his pocket. He was nervous, he
was frightened, but he must get rid of the draft and his story, and have
it over. But before he could speak he was unexpectedly stopped by Uncle
Jim.

"Now, look yer, Billy boy!" said Uncle Jim; "I got suthin' to say to
ye--and I might as well clear it off my mind at once, and then we can
start fair agin. Now," he went on, with a half laugh, "wasn't it enough
for ME to go on pretendin' I was rich and doing a big business, and
gettin' up that lock-box dodge so as ye couldn't find out whar I hung
out and what I was doin'--wasn't it enough for ME to go on with all this
play-actin', but YOU, you long-legged or nary cuss! must get up and go
to lyin' and play-actin', too!"

"ME play-actin'? ME lyin'?" gasped Uncle Billy.

Uncle Jim leaned back in his chair and laughed. "Do you think you could
fool ME? Do you think I didn't see through your little game o' going
to that swell Oriental, jest as if ye'd made a big strike--and all the
while ye wasn't sleepin' or eatin' there, but jest wrastlin' yer hash
and having a roll down at the Good Cheer! Do you think I didn't spy on
ye and find that out? Oh, you long-eared jackass-rabbit!"

He laughed until the tears came into his eyes, and Uncle Billy laughed
too, albeit until the laugh on his face became quite fixed, and he was
fain to bury his head in his handkerchief.

"And yet," said Uncle Jim, with a deep breath, "gosh! I was
frighted--jest for a minit! I thought, mebbe, you HAD made a big
strike--when I got your first letter--and I made up my mind what I'd
do! And then I remembered you was jest that kind of an open sluice that
couldn't keep anythin' to yourself, and you'd have been sure to have
yelled it out to ME the first thing. So I waited. And I found you out,
you old sinner!" He reached forward and dug Uncle Billy in the ribs.

"What WOULD you hev done?" said Uncle Billy, after an hysterical
collapse.

Uncle Jim's face grew grave again. "I'd hev--I'd--hev cl'ared out! Out
er 'Frisco! out er Californy! out er Ameriky! I couldn't have stud it!
Don't think I would hev begrudged ye yer luck! No man would have been
gladder than me." He leaned forward agai