every other time me an' Cast
Steel had had a little difference; but this time, I was simply tired o'
the place. Well, I'll go on an' chance it; but I'm leery that somethin'
will happen."

We arrived next day in time for supper, an' Barbie an' Jabez was mighty
glad to see me. Barbie went wild over the chickens, just as I knew she
would, an' Jabez said that he used to like eggs himself when he was a
boy, an' would have got some poultry long ago if he'd only thought of
it. They both of 'em laughed to think that I had at last come back to
the Diamond Dot without findin' any kind of warfare; an' when I told
'em that it sort o' worried me, they only laughed the more.

"How did you like business, Happy?" sez Jabez.

"I got nine hundred dollars I wish you'd range out with the rest o' my
herd," sez I, "but to tell you the simple truth, I don't like business,
not one mite."

I thought I could stall 'em off without tellin' 'em what kind o'
business I'd made my stake in, but they wormed it out o' me before that
first meal was over. It was a merry meal, an' lasted about three hours.
I enjoyed it, but I made up my mind that if I took on again, I was
goin' to eat with the rest of the boys. I had allus et with Barbie an'
Jabez; but I didn't want to have any o' the outfit get to thinkin' that
I wasn't nothin' but a visitor. When bedtime hove around, Jabez sez,
"Well, you'll find your old room ready, Happy."

"Why, I reckon I'll sleep in the bunk shack from this on," sez I.

"I reckon you won't," sez he. "You're worth more to me as a sort o'
reserve than you 'd be as a straight puncher, an' the' ain't no use o'
your gettin' so blame finicky all of a sudden. What's got into you
lately?"

"Now, you knob' how it is, Jabez," sez I, "if I cut loose from the rest
o' the bunch, they're bound to talk about it an'--"

"Let 'em talk," he snaps in. "Talk ain't expensive; but I don't think
they're a jealous lot. They all like you, Happy, an' I got a sort of a
suspicion that those who don't won't pester you overly much. I ain't
heard the straight of it, but I have heard some talk about him
overestimatin' his ability in the ridin' line. Now cut out this
nonsense an' just begin where you left off. Barbie here'll be mighty
glad of some company again."

It didn't take 'em long to talk me into it--it generally is easy to
break down a man's will when it ain't braced up by his natural desires;
so after I'd balked as long as seemed polite, I settl