dle o' the street, so's they
can't spring around a corner and slug you. And don't talk to strangers,
and don't look into store windows ner up at the high buildin's, else
they'll spot you fer a greeny and give you the laugh."

"I can't believe it yet, Ben." He rose to walk the floor again, his
hands sunk deep in his pockets, his head bent low.

"And don't git into no card game on the train with a couple o' smooth
strangers that ain't ever met each other before and want to pass away
the time pleasantly. And don't bet you can open the patent lock after
you think you found the secret spring. And don't buy any o' that money
you can't tell from real, that was printed from stolen Gov'ment plates."

"Think of his giving a hundred dollars for that drawing of 'Lon Pierce
on the pinto, throwing a steer, and all that money for the others."

"Serves him right!" Ben hissed this vindictively, having first
reluctantly laid aside "Traps and Pitfalls." "Serves him dead right!
That feller puts on a wise look that's about sixty-five years beyond his
real age, as I'd cal'late it. I tell you, son, it sure takes all kinds
o' fools to make a world."

"But he said they were worth the money," Ewing pleaded. "He said I would
do even better, some day."

"Sure--_sure_ he said it! An' didn't he ask me if I had dyspepsia, an'
did I sleep at night, an' I'd better remember to live an outdoor life of
activity if I ever got that a-way. An' he thinks he's learned how to
grain a deer hide after watching me do it three minutes, an' he's goin'
to pick up a live skunk next chanct he gits, because I told him jest how
to grab it. Oh, he _said_ things all right! He said a variety o'
things!" He glared at Ewing as he rounded out this catalogue of follies.

"I'm torn in two, Ben. I shan't be glad to leave here, and yet I'll be
glad to go. I've dreamed it so long. It seems as if I'd dreamed it so
hard I'd made it come true."

"Always pin your money to the inside of your vest, like I told you,"
came the voice of warning.

"I will, I will. But things _do_ happen, don't they? This is like a
fairy tale."

"Fairy tale!" The wise one uttered this with violent scorn. "Likely you
was the sleepin' beauty, an' this here princess comes along with an
alarm clock!"

"Not a princess, Ben." He laughed boyishly. "She's a sure-enough queen."

"Jest remember they's knaves in the deck. That's all _I_ ask."

"You like her don't you?"

Ben made an effort to be fair.