givin' me six hundred dollars after you came back from the Pan
Handle? Well, it's been in the bank ever since, an' it's grew some, I
reckon."

"Well, let her keep on growin'," sez I. "I'm goin' to learn the
business before I invest in it."

"That's sense," sez he. "Did you ever have any experience?"

"I was clerk in a restaurant once," sez I; "but I didn't like it, an' I
don't reckon I'll go into the restaurant business."

Barbie rode a long way with me, but we didn't talk much.

I don't suppose the' ever was a time when we both had so much to say;
but we couldn't seem to say it, an' when we came to part all she said
was, "Oh, Happy, I hate to see you go, but I'm sure you'll come back in
the fall."

"I'll come back as soon as I feel I can," sez I; "an' now don't worry
none yourself, an' don't fret your Dad--an' don't forget old Happy." We
shook hands long an' firm, an' her eyes seemed tryin' to hold me until
I couldn't look into 'em--but I didn't kiss her this time. We both
noticed it, an' we both knew 'at while I was partin' from her she was
partin' from her childhood. Partin' from anything 'at you've been fond
of is mighty sad business; and so I rode away again.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

BUSINESS IS BUSINESS

I felt entirely different this time. I wasn't smartin' under anger an'
unjust treatment; I was goin' out of my own accord an' because I had
left behind me the carelessness of boyhood, hood, an' was ready to plow
an' plant an' wait for a crop. No more gaiety, no more frivolity, no
more heedlessness. I was to scheme an' plan for the future an' not be
led astray by every enticin' amusement that beckoned to me.

When I came in sight of Danders the second day, I didn't inquire how my
thirst was feelin'--no more thirst emersions for mine. The' ain't any
profit in that, sez I to myself; what I want to do is to ease this old
skin of a pony along until I can get a piece of money for him; that's
business.

I wasn't much acquainted over in Danders, an' I thought it would be
easy slidin'; but the first feller I met was a useless sort of a cuss
what had been punchin' cows at the Diamond Dot the time the Prophy Gang
tried to clean it out, an' he has to tell 'em who I am, an' they had
all heard about me an' Bill Andrews; so 'at it was purt' nigh
impossible for me to hold out. I apologized for not drinkin', an' they
let me off; but the old Diamond Dot hand said he was broke, an' wanted
me to shove him a little st