t know about
mining, nobody don't know. When do we start?'

"'This, or any other minute,' says he, getting up from the table.

"'Wait till I finish up these eggs,' says I. 'And there's a matter
of one drink coming to me outside--I may as well put that where it
won't harm any one else before we start.'

"'All right!' says he, waving his hand. 'You'll find me
outside--at your pleasure, sir.'

"I swallered the rest of my breakfast whole and hustled out to the
bar, where my friend and the Hotel-man was waiting. 'Now I'll take
that drink that's coming, and rather than be small about it, I'll
buy one for you too, and then we're off,' says I.

"'You won't do no such thing,' says the Hotel-man. 'It's a horse
on me, and I'll supply the liquor. Mr. Jones is in the play as
much as anybody.'

"So the Hotel-man set 'em up, and that made one drink. Then Jones
said he'd never let a drink suffer from lonesomeness yet when he
had the price, and that made two drinks. I had to uphold the
honour of the ranch, and that made three drinks. Hotel-man said it
was up-sticks now, and he meant to pay his just debts like an
honest man, and that made four drinks, then Jones said--well, by
this time I see I needn't have hurried breakfast so much. More
people came in. I woke up the next morning in the same old
bedroom. Every breakfast Aggy and me got ready to pull for the
mines, and every morning I woke up in the bedroom. I should like
to draw a veil over the next two weeks, but it would have to be a
pretty strong veil to hold it. I tried to keep level with Aggy,
but he'd spend three dollars to my one, and the consequence of that
was that we went broke within fifteen minutes of each other.

"Well, sir, we were a mournful pair to draw to that day. We sat
there and cussed and said, 'Now, why didn't we do this, that, and
t'other thing instead of blowing our hard earned dough?'--till
bimeby we just dripped melancholy, you might say. Howsomever, we
weren't booked for a dull time just yet. That afternoon there was
a great popping of whips like an Injun skirmish and into town comes
a bull train half-a-mile long. Twelve yoke of bulls to the team;
lead, swing, and trail waggons for each, as big as houses on
wheels. You don't see the like of that in this country. Down the
street they come, the dust flying, whips cracking and the lads
hollering 'Whoa haw, Mary--up there! Wherp! whoa haw.'

"And those fellers had picked up dry thr