should
prosper for a little while, an' jest when he begun to enj'y it, a curse
should come onto it. Ef it wor business, when he thought he was sure of
a good thing, it should fail. Ef it wor love, the woman he loved should
die. Ef it wor children, they should grow up, and turn agin' him; or, if
they stuck to him, the same curse should be on them; what they undertook
should fail; what they loved should die."

"Did the woman he loved die? did his children desert him?" asked the
Englishman, eagerly.

"His wife died seven year arter he married her; one ov his boys was
killed by his horse fallin' on him; the other got into bad company down
to Red Bluffs, an', arter leadin' the old man a devil of a life for two
year or more, run off, an' got taken by the lynchers--so folks said. I
b'lieve he has a gal, back in the States; but his wife's folks won't let
her come to Californy. They're a-eddicatin' her quite grand, an' she
writes a powerful nice letter. The old man showed me one, last time he
was up to the Bar. Han'some as any school-marm's ever ye saw. But Bob
says he don't see what's the use; somethin's sure to happen her;
somethin' allers does happen to him an' to his chillern."

"Is that why he thinks he's cursed--because 'something always happens?'"
asked Gentleman Bill, indifferently.

"Sart'in; an' it's so, as sure as yer born. Nothin' never pans out long
with Bob Matheny. His beginnin's is all good, an' his endin's all bad. I
reckon thar never was a man to Wilson's Bar has been cleaned eout, down
to the bed-rock, as often as Matheny."

"Is he a good man?" asked the Englishman, interested.

"Never had a better man to Wilson's Bar," responded Kentuck, decidedly,
as he cast his quid under the table. "He ain't a lucky feller, an' he's
mighty superstitious an' the like; but I make a heap o' Bob Matheny. His
luck an' his cuss don't hurt him none for me. It's jest a notion,
mebbe."

"Notion or no notion," said Davis, with a knowing leer, "he's not the
man to marry a nice gal like that 'un he's got up to the Rest. Better
let her be for some lucky young feller as could make her happy. Don't
you say so, boys?"

While the laugh went round, the crowd that had been gradually collecting
and listening to the story, began to move, and then to part, as the man
so much talked of forced his way toward the group of speakers.

"Hold yer tongue, Tom Davis," said Kentuck. "Hulloa, Bob! take my hand,
won't ye? I'll introduce ye to m