hich I was implicated by a black eye or so. I fought the good
fight, I kept the faith, but I did not finish my course. But to return
to our sheep.

"In every crisis, I have always found precedent for action in the
words of the immortal Swan of Avon. What does Will say? He says:

'_Put money in thy purse_!'

"Follows naturally the advice of the melancholy Dane, bearing directly
on the case in hand:

'_Let it work.
'For 'tis the sport to see the engineer
Hoist with his own petard._'

"Again,

'_Look on this picture, then on that!
The counterfeit_.'

"Where is that counterfeit, anyhow?" He took from his pocket a good
silver dollar, compared it thoughtfully with the bad one on the table,
and continued.

"What else? Why, this:

'_Art thou not horribly afeared?... Could the world pick thee three
such enemies again as that fiend Douglas, that spirit Percy, and that
devil Glendower?'_

"Having thus pointed out the danger, he plainly indicates the remedy:

'_Where shall I find one that will steal well? O! for a fine thief of
the age of two-or-three and twenty! I am heinously unprovided_.'

"Gentlemen, in my opinion we need three things. First, the services
of a skillful and discreet silversmith. Second, a pair of eye-glasses
fitted with a powerful microscopic lens, able to distinguish good
from evil. Third, a confederate who can steal well, such as we can
doubtless find in or about Broad Street. By these simple and feasible
means we shall be enabled to whip-saw our redoubtable opponents or, to
use the local term, 'give 'em the double-cross.'"

He sat down amid boisterous applause.

"The Watch-dog of the Treasury!" said Steve icily. The Watch-dog stood
apologetically, twisting nervous fingers together. "It strikes me, Mr.
Speaker," he stammered, "that my eminent colleague might aptly have
quoted from the same high authority two maxims in praise of prudence.
'Discretion is the better part of valor,' he says, and also,

'_He who fights and runs away
Will live to fight another day._'

"It appears to me the part of prudence----"

Here he was howled down by disapproving groans.

"The Chair will take great pleasure in recognizing the Gentleman from
New Mexico," suggested Steve, with a gracious nod.

Wildcat Thompson, cowboy, sprang to his feet; lithe, active, eager.
Swiftness, alertness, poise, certainty were in every line of his
splendid body. His was the a