kin hold it an' make mebbe a million.
All it'll cost you is thirty-two thousand dollars. I don't make a cent
out of it."

"Thirty-two thousand dollars! Not much, is it?"

"It ain't nothin' to a man like you."

Gray nodded and smiled queerly as he thanked the nester, then from his
pockets he removed several crumpled wads of currency and a handful of
silver. These he counted before saying: "What capital I have is
entirely liquid--it's all in cash. There is eighty-seven dollars and
forty-three cents. It is every dollar in the world that I possess."

"Huh?" Gus Briskow's bright eyes searched the smiling countenance
before him. "You're--jokin'. I thought you said you was rich."

"I am rich. I don't owe a nickel, and won't, until my hotel bill is
due, day after to-morrow. I'm in full possession of all my faculties.
I'm perfectly healthy and cheerful. I know men who would pay a million
dollars for my health alone, and another million to enjoy my frame of
mind. That's two million--"

"Well--doggone _me_!" There was a pause, then the speaker brightened.
"Mebbe you'll take Buddy, after all? You kin set your own wages."

Gray shook his head. "There are two good reasons why I couldn't accept,
even if I wished. I've told you one; I'm too fond of you Briskows to
risk ruining Buddy."

"What's the other one?"

"A purely personal reason. I have a definite something to do here in
Texas. Before I can accomplish it, I shall have to make a lot of money,
but that I shall do easily. I make money rapidly when I start."

"You gotta git goin' afore long." Briskow allowed his eyes to rove
about the spacious Governor's suite. "'Specially with only eighty-seven
forty--"

"That is nearly eighty-seven dollars more than I had when I arrived.
Three weeks ago I was an utter stranger here; to-day I know everybody
worth knowing in a business way, and some of them are my friends."

"If you could learn Buddy to make friends like that--"

But Gray raised his hand. "I derive a certain amusement from my own
peculiar characteristics and capabilities, but I should detest them in
another."

"Well, you sure need money, and--I kin he'p you out."

"Thank you, but I sha'n't borrow. If the time were not so short, I
could probably turn this lease you so kindly offered me. But something
else will happen along."

Briskow sighed. "I could of sold it myself--thought I had it sold to a
bunch from Wichita, but they tricked me. I offered it the day you wa