r most everybody. There's Nora, Sam's girl, the head waiter;
an' Mary, the red-headed girl; an' Kitty, the littlest waiter girl; an'
the new grocery man's wife; an' Hank Peterson's wife, from down to his
ranch. Oh, there'll be plenty o' ladies, don't you never doubt. Why,
say, Sam, he told me, last time he went down to Plum Centre, he was goin'
to ask Major Buford an' his wife, an' the gal that's stayin' with
them--tall gal, fine looker--why, Sam, he said he would ast them, an'
maybe they'd come up to the dance--who knows? Sam, he says that gal
ain't no common sort--whole outfit's a puzzler to him, he says, Sam does."

"And when does this all happen, Curly, boy?" asked Battersleigh.

"Why, night after to-morrer night, to the big stone hotel. They're goin'
to clean out the dinin'-room for us. Three niggers, two fiddlers, an' a
'cordion--oh, we'll have music all right! You'll be over, of course?"

"That we will, me boy," responded Battersleigh. "It's mesilf will
inthrojuce Captain Franklin to his first haythin ball. Our life on the
claim's elevatin', for it leaves time for thought, but it is a bit slow
at times. An' will we come? Man, we'll be the first."

"Well, then, so long, fellers," said Curly. "I got to be movin' along a
little. See you at the dance, sure."

"Now, as to a ball, Battersleigh," said Franklin, argumentatively, when
they were alone, "how can I go? I've not the first decent thing to wear
to such a place."

"Tut, tut!" said Battersleigh. "There speaks the coxcombry of youth. I
make no doubt ye'd be the best-dressed man there if ye'd go as ye stand
now. But what about Batty? On me honour, Ned, I've never been so low in
kit as I am this season here, not since I was lance sergeant in the
Tinth. You're able to pull out your blue uniform, I know, an' b'gad! the
uniform of an officer is full dress the worrld over! Look at Batty, half
mufti, and his allowance a bit late, me boy. But does Batty despair? By
no means. 'Tis at times like this that gaynius rises to the occasion."

Franklin grinned amiably. "Thank you for the suggestion about the
uniform, at least," he said. "Now, if we can fix you up as well."

Battersleigh came and stood before him, waving a long forefinger.

"Listen to me, Ned," he began, "an' I'll lay down to ye a few of the
fundamental rules of conduct and appar'l.

"A gintleman never lies; a gintleman never uses unseemly haste; a
gintleman is always ready for lo