That evening Old Mizzou returned from town with a watery eye and a mind

that ran to horses.

"He is shore a fine cayuse," he asserted with extreme impressiveness.

"He is one of them broncs you jest loves. An' he's jes 's cheap! I

likes you a lot, sonny; I deems you as a face-card shore, an' ef any

one ever tries fer to climb yore hump, you jest calls on pore Old

Mizzou an' he mingles in them troubles immediate. You must have that

cayuse an' go scoutin' in th' hills, yo' shore must! Ol' man

Davidson'll do th' work fer ye, but ye shore must scout. 'Taint healthy

not t' git exercise on a cayuse. It shorely ain't! An' you must git t'

know these yar hills, you must. They is beautiful an' picturesque, and

is full of scenery. When you goes back East, you wants to know all

about 'em. I wouldn't hev you go back East without knowin' all about

'em for anythin' in the worl', I likes ye thet much!"

Old Mizzou paused to wipe away a sympathetic tear with a rather

uncertain hand.

"Y' wants to start right off too, thet's th' worst of it, so's t' see

'em all afore you goes, 'cause they is lots of hills and I'm 'feared

you won't stay long, sonny; I am that! I has my ideas these yar claims

is no good, I has fer a fact, and they won't need no one here long, and

then we'll lose ye, sonny, so you mus' shore hev that cayuse."

Old Mizzou rambled on in like fashion most of the evening, to

Bennington's great amusement, and, though next morning he was quite

himself again, he still clung to the idea that Bennington should

examine the pony.

"He is a fine bronc, fer shore," he claimed, "an' you'd better git

arter him afore some one else gits him."

As Bennington had for some time tentatively revolved in his mind the

desirability of something to ride, this struck him as being a good

idea. All Westerners had horses--in the books. So he abandoned

Aliris: A Romance of all Time, for the morning, and drove down to

Spanish Gulch with Old Mizzou.

He was mentally braced for devilment, but his arch-enemy, Fay, was not

in sight. To his surprise, he got to the post office quite without

molestation. There he was handed two letters. One was from his parents.

The other, his first business document, proved to be from the mining

capitalist. The latter he found to inclose separate drafts for various

amounts in favour of six men. Bishop wrote that the young man was to

hand these drafts to their owners, and to take receipts for the amounts

of each. He promised a further installment in a few weeks.




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