u do."

"A dollar more or less don't amount to much," said Clapp. "I'll tell
you what it is, Luke," he resumed after a pause, "I'm getting sick of
Centreville."

"So am I," said Luke, "but it don't make much difference. If I had
fifty dollars, I'd go off and try my luck somewhere else, but I'll
have to wait till I'm gray-headed before I get as much as that."

"Can't you borrow it?"

"Who'd lend it to me?"

"I don't know. If I did, I'd go in for borrowing myself. I wish
there was some way of my getting to California."

"California!" repeated Luke with interest. "What would you do there?"

"I'd go to the mines."

"Do you think there's money to be made there?"

"I know there is," said Clapp, emphatically.

"How do you know it?"

"There's an old school-mate of mine--Ralph Smith--went out there two
years ago. Last week he returned home--I heard it in a letter--and
how much do you think he brought with him?"

"How much?"

"Eight thousand dollars!"

"Eight thousand dollars! He didn't make it all at the mines, did he?"

"Yes, he did. When he went out there, he had just money enough to
pay his passage. Now, after only two years, he can lay off and live
like a gentleman."

"He's been lucky, and no mistake."

"You bet he has. But we might be as lucky if we were only out there."

"Ay, there's the rub. A fellow can't travel for nothing."

At this point in their conversation, a well-dressed young man,
evidently a stranger in the village, met them, and stopping, asked
politely for a light.

This Clapp afforded him.

"You are a stranger in the village?" he said, with some curiosity.

"Yes, I was never here before. I come from New York."

"Indeed! If I lived in New York I'd stay there, and not come to such
a beastly place as Centreville."

"Do you live here?" asked the stranger.

"Yes."

"I wonder you live in such a beastly place," he said, with a smile.

"You wouldn't, if you knew the reason."

"What is the reason?"

"I can't get away."

The stranger laughed.

"Cruel parents?" he asked.

"Not much," said Clapp. "The plain reason is, that I haven't got
money enough to get me out of town."

"It's the same with me," said Luke Harrison.

"Gentlemen, we are well met," said the stranger. "I'm hard up
myself."

"You don't look like it," said Luke, glancing at his rather flashy
attire.

"These clothes are not paid for," said the stranger, laughing; "and
what's more, I don't thin