I felt entirely different this time. I wasn't smartin' under anger an'
unjust treatment; I was goin' out of my own accord an' because I had
left behind me the carelessness of boyhood, hood, an' was ready to plow
an' plant an' wait for a crop. No more gaiety, no more frivolity, no
more heedlessness. I was to scheme an' plan for the future an' not be
led astray by every enticin' amusement that beckoned to me.
When I came in sight of Danders the second day, I didn't inquire how my
thirst was feelin'--no more thirst emersions for mine. The' ain't any
profit in that, sez I to myself; what I want to do is to ease this old
skin of a pony along until I can get a piece of money for him; that's
business.
I wasn't much acquainted over in Danders, an' I thought it would be
easy slidin'; but the first feller I met was a useless sort of a cuss
what had been punchin' cows at the Diamond Dot the time the Prophy Gang
tried to clean it out, an' he has to tell 'em who I am, an' they had
all heard about me an' Bill Andrews; so 'at it was purt' nigh
impossible for me to hold out. I apologized for not drinkin', an' they
let me off; but the old Diamond Dot hand said he was broke, an' wanted
me to shove him a little stake.
Well, that was sure a bad opening: "Business," sez I, "don't let go one
cent unless it's goin' to grab another an' fetch it back home;" an' I
knew that all I gave this feller would keep in circulation for the
balance of eternity. Then a brilliant thought struck me, an' I told him
I'd give him one fourth of all he got for the pony over ten dollars. He
looked at the pony an' sez, "Who gets the ten dollars?"
"I gets the ten dollars," sez I. "This is business: I own the pony, I
pay you wages to sell him, the more you sell him for the more you get."
He looks at me a moment an' then he calls a gang around him an' sez to
'em: "Here's a rich one, fellers. You see this pony--well, he was too
blame old to herd geese with when I was punchin' cows over at the
Diamond Dot, ten year ago, an' now Happy wants me to sell him, me
gettin' one fourth of all I rake in over ten dollars--an' HIM gettin'
the ten dollars. What do ya think o' that for nerve?"
Course they all laughed like a lot o' guinea-hens, but I knew that a
business man has to overlook the inborn ignorance of his customers, or
else it's twice as hard to land 'em; so I just smiled polite.
"What is your first offer, men?" sez my salesman. "Who'll give me a
hundred dollars for this grand old relic; this veteran of a hundred
wars; this venerable and honorable souvynier of bygone ages?" Well,
that blame fool went on pilin' it up while the crowd egged him on by
offerin' two bits, an' four bits, an' six bits an' a drink; an' so on
until I was disgusted and turned it off as a joke, tellin' the blasted
rascal to take the pony an' try to trade him for a night's lodgin'.
He takes my saddle an' bridle off an' puts 'em careful in the hotel,
an' then he takes the pony across the street an' begins to rub him
down. He rubs him a while an' combs out his stringy mane an' tail with
his fingers. Every now an' again he backs off an' examines that pony as
though he was actually worth stealin'. I couldn't make out what he was
up to, so I stood in front of the hotel watchin' him. Purty soon up
comes a tourist what has been lurkin' around in the distance.
"What is the' about that pony that everybody takes such an interest in
him for?" sez he, glancin' over to where us fellers was gawkin'.
"Don't you know?" sez the feller, in surprise. I can't quite recall his
name now, but I think it was Bill. Anyhow, most fellers' names is Bill,
so we'll call him Bill. "Don't you know who this pony is?" sez Bill.
"Why no," sez the tourist. "I just arrived this mornin', an' I'm
waitin' for my uncle to send in after me."
"Is that so?" sez Bill. "Well, I'll bet your uncle knows who this pony
is. This pony is Captain. Who is your Uncle?"
"Why, my uncle is Charles W. Hampton," sez the tourist.
"You don't say!" sez Bill. "Well, Cholly knows who Captain is all
right."
"Oh, do you know him?" sez the tourist.
"Why, everybody knows him around here," sez Bill.
"That's funny; they told me he lived over a hundred and forty miles
from here," sez the tourist. "But what is the' about Captain that makes
him so wonderful? He don't look like much of a pony to me."
Bill looks at the pony and then he looks at the tourist, then he looks
at the pony again an' sez in a low voice: "It ain't on his looks, it's
for what he's done that makes Captain famous."
"What's he done?" sez the tourist.
"Did you ever hear of Custer's massacre?" sez Bill.
"Of course I have," sez the tourist, gettin' interested.
Bill, he walks up an' puts his hand on the pony's neck, an' then he
turns an' sez proudly, "This here pony is the last survivin' remnant of
that historical event."
"You don't say!" sez the tourist. "What are you goin' to do with him?"
"I don't want to say a word again the flag of my country," sez Bill,
holdin' tip his hand, "but my country ain't got the gratitude it ort to
have when it comes to hosses. I don't blame 'em for condemnin' the
common run o' hosses an' sellin' 'em to wear out their pore lives
in--in toilsome labor, but when it comes to a hoss with a record like
Captain--well, I kept him as long as I could afford it. Now I'm goin'
to give him a good groomin', spend my last penny in givin' him one more
feed, an' then take him out on the broad free prairie of his native
soil--an' shoot him. Of course I could sell him, but I won't do it. I'd
rather give him a soldier's death than to have him hammered around in
his old age, after all he's done for his country."
Well, the tourist, he gets all het up over it, an' then he comes over
to where us fellers gathered. We're standin' in solemn awe, an' he sees
the' ain't any of it put on; but he can't tell that it ain't respect
for what the pony has done that makes us so solemn; he can't see 'at we
're off erin' up our tribute to Bill.
"Do any of you gentlemen know anything about that pony?" sez the
tourist.
"Who, Captain!" sez a tall, lanky, sad-lookin' puncher. "Well, it ain't
likely that you can find a man in the West who wouldn't recognize that
pony by the description. That there pony was in the Custer Massacre."
"The gentleman what owns him is goin' to shoot him," sez the tourist.
"Well, perhaps it's all for the best," sez the sad one. "I ain't no
millionaire, but I offered him thirty-seven dollars for that pony. He
doubted that I'd take good care of him, so he wouldn't sell him to me.
He said he didn't think I'd abuse the pony when I was sober, but I'll
have to own up that when a friend--when a friend invites me to have a
drink, I can't say no--an' I got a darn sight o' friends in this
country."
The' ain't no use in draggin' this out. After that tourist had agreed
to treat that pony like the saints of glory, Bill, he finally sold him
to him for an even fifty dollars--an' it was me that bought the liquor
for the crowd.
I'm good-natured enough to suit any one reasonable, but I own up I was
sore. Here I'd started out with the best intentions in the world, with
my mind all made up not to be led into temptation or turned from a set
purpose, an' what was the first result? I had simply given my entire
stock in trade away to a worthless loafer, an' had seen him sell it for
fifty dollars after he had made all manner of fun of me for offerin'
one fourth of all he made over ten. Why, the pony was worth seven
dollars, an' I could have sold him for that money myself if I hadn't
let them laugh me into showin' of. Then to top off with, I'd blown in
about a month's wages just to show the gang I was able to take a joke
when it was measured out to me.
I was ready right at that minute to own tip that business didn't come
natural to me; but I enjoyed myself plenty enough until along toward
mornin', an' then the penjalum begun to swing back. I sat over in the
corner kickin' myself purty freely, when a funny, twisted little man
came over an' sat across from me. He had pink-like cheeks an' shiny
little eyes, an' he was middlin' well crowded with part of the wet
goods I had been payin' for. "It was one o' the smoothest business
deals I ever saw put through--on a small scale," sez he.
"Oh, hang business," sez I.
"Well, it's a hangin' matter often enough," sez he. "Do you know the
reason why the' 's so much devilment in this world?"
"It's 'cause the' 's so many people here," sez I; "that's easy enough."
"It's 'cause the preachers ain't got the nerve to explain what the
commandments mean," sez he.
It was an awful curious little man, an' I kind o' straightened up an'
give him a searchin' look: "I've met a heap like you," sez I. "Some
folks think that preachers is paid to make the world better, but they
ain't. They're paid so that when a feller's conscience hurts him he can
just lay all the sins of the whole world on the preachers."
"They deserve 'em," sez the little man. "What does it mean to steal?"
"Why, any fool knows what stealin' is," sez I. "It's takin' something
that don't belong to you."
"How can you tell what does belong to you," he sez, leanin' forward as
if he was makin' a point.
I looked at him an' saw that he really thought he was talkin' sense, so
I sez: "You go talk to some one else. I'm too sleepy an' I'm too blame
sore to bother with such nonsense."
"It ain't nonsense," sez he. "I'm an edicated man, an' I been studyin'
life ever since I been born. My father was a preacher across the water,
an' I got arrested for stealin' a bottle of whiskey when I wasn't
nothin' but a boy. The whole family was disgraced on account of me, an'
my father told 'em to go ahead an' give it to me hard. Now I stole that
whiskey on a dare, an' I stole it from a good church member; but all
the rest of my life I been stretchin' that there commandment until I
tell you the whole human race is one set o' thieves."
Well, I was purty sleepy, but the little old man had an eye in him like
a headlight, an' he just made you listen to him. "The' ain't no sense
in your slingin' mud that way," sez I. "The' 's lots of men 'at
wouldn't steal, if they had a chance."
"If I ruin my constitution through depravity, is it stealin'?" sez he.
"No," sez I, "it's darn foolishness."
"It is stealin'," sez he, "just as much as if I help to waste natural
products what can't be replaced--stealin' from the children of the next
generation, an' all the followin' generations."
"What rights have they got?" I sez, losin' my patience. "They ain't
even born yet."
"Did you ever see a baby?" sez he.
"Yes," I sez, "I bet I've seen a dozen of 'em."
"Well," sez he, "was they polite? Did they beg for what they wanted?
Did they have any doubt but that they'd be plenty of everything to go
around?"
"Not them what I saw," sez I. "They'd give one little coo, to see if
any one was handy, an' then they'd holler an' yell an' scold an' fuss
until they got what they wanted."
"Do you suppose if they didn't have any rights they'd have the nerve to
carry on that way?" sez he.
"Rights!" sez I. "They didn't have to have rights--they had mothers."
Well, that set him back a good ways, an' by the time he had thought up
some new stuff I was asleep; but he shook me awake an' sez, "Of course
the child's mother will do all she can; but supposin' she ain't got
what the child wants--how'll she explain it to him?"
"She won't bother explainin' nothin' to a baby," sez I. "She'll just
send the old man out to get it."
He looked sort o' disgusted like, as if he wasn't used to arguin' with
a man what could handle logic an' make points. "You're just like the
rest," sez he. "What I mean is, that every man who has ever been on
earth is just sort of an overseer for them what is yet to come. We have
the right to use everything we want in the right way, but we haven't
any right to waste it or destroy it, or hog it up so that all can't
enjoy it. Why, when you start to savin' an' draw in what ought to be
circulatin', you steal from them what haven't had the chance 'at you've
had. It's wicked to be thrifty."
"Well, you're the craziest one I've seen yet," sez I, laughin'. "Why,
if you had your way you'd utterly ruin business."
"Business!" he yells, gettin' excited. "Do you know what business is?"
I thought a moment. "I don't know all the' is to know about it," sez I,
"but I expect to give it a fair good work-out before I'm through with
it."
"Business," he sez, leanin' across the table an' hittin' it with his
finger-nail, "business is simply havin' the laws fixed so you can steal
without havin' to pay any fine. What is business? Ain't it figgerin'
an' schemin' to get away from a man whatever he happens to have? That's
nothin' but stealin'."
"Confound you," sez I, "do you mean to say that just because I'm goin'
to engage in business I'm a thief?"
He looked at me a moment an' then he shook his head. "No," he sez, "you
won't never be that kind, you'll be some other kind; but that's about
all business is--just thievery. Why, I once knew two men 'at was the
best friends 'at ever lived; an' they just ruined their lives 'cause
they couldn't resist the temptation of each tryin' to grab all. It was
over the Creole Belle--"
"Yes, but she was a woman!" I yells, jumpin' to my feet, an' leanin'
over the table.
"No, it was a mine," sez he, sittin' still.
"A Creole is a cross-breed woman 'at came from New Orleans," sez I;
"an' when they're good lookin' enough, they call 'em belles."
"Well this here mine 'at I'm goin' to tell you about was called the
Creole Belle," he sez. "For a longtime it didn't pay to amount to
anything, an' then it began to pay; an' the two friends got covetous,
an' first George had Jack killed an' then he gets killed himself by
Jack's--"
"No, he wasn't killed," I snaps in like a blame fool.
The old man looked at me with his little shiny eyes all scrouged up.
"Who wasn't killed?" he sez, slow an' cautious. "Why, George Jordan
wasn't killed," I sez.
"What would a kid like you know about it" sez he.
"Well, I do know 'at he wasn't killed," I sez. "I been workin' for him;
he don't live but a short way from here. Tell the the whole story. I'll
make it worth your while. Come on, what'll you have to drink?"
He leaned forward with his hand clutchin' at his side, an' his pink
checks gray an' twisted. He coughed a dry, short cough, an' groans out
between his set teeth. "It 's my heart; I got a bum pump. You tell
George Jordan that I never breathed a word of it, but that Jack
Whitman--Oh, my God! Get me a drink of whiskey! Get me a drink of
hell-fire!"
He doubled up, grabbin' an' clawin' at his breast while I jumped to the
bar yellin' for whiskey. I grabbed the bottle an' hustled back to him,
but he was all crumpled up on the floor. We straightened him out an'
rubbed his wrists an' poured whiskey down his throat, an' after a while
he opened his eyes. The minute his senses got back to him he clutched
at his heart again, rollin' an' writhin', an' makin' noises like a
wounded beast. "I knew it would end this way," he gasped. "I'm goin'
out now, but listen to what I say"--he helt his breath to keep from
coughin'--"the' ain't no sin but stealin'. Don't never take nothin'
that don't belong to ya."
All his muscles grew rigid an' twisted, an' then a smile came on his
face an' he sank back. They had the doctor there by that time, but the'
wasn't anything to be done, except to give a big heathen name to what
had been the matter with him. There he lay on the bar-room floor; the'
was filth an' refuse all around him, but the smile on his face was just
plumb satisfied, an' yet it was a knowledgeable smile too. I could 'a'
cried when I thought that this man, who could have told little Barbie
what she wanted to know, had wasted all that time tryin' to convince me
that business an' stealin' was all one. What he knew wouldn't do him a
mite o' good, wherever he was; an' yet the' wasn't any way on earth to
bring him back long enough to have him tell it.
They told me his name was Sandy Fergoson, an' that he was harmless
crazy. He used to float around doin' odd jobs an' talkin' nonsense
about stealin'; but nobody knew where he had come from, so I chipped in
a little something to help bury him, an' gave up the rest of my money
for a ticket to Frisco.
I didn't enjoy that trip to Frisco; business didn't seem so attractive
when you once set out to find her, an' then again, I was broke. I don't
mind bein' broke when I 'm on the range 'cause a feller can pick up a
job anywhere; but I wasn't city-wise, an' I didn't know how long it
would take me to track down the kind o' business I wanted to engage in.
I suppose cities must suit some folks, or they wouldn't keep on livin'
in 'em; but cities sure don't suit me. I allus had a kind of an idea
from what Slocum had told me that I'd enjoy the bankin' business, so I
applied to the banks first. They're a blame offish set, bankers. They
didn't laugh at me,--leastwise not until after I'd gone out,--but they
didn't offer much encouragement. I tramped around that city for four
days, an' by the time I finally got located in business my appetite was
tearin' around inside my empty body till I couldn't sleep nights. Oh,
it was not joyful! I had taken the position of porter in a mammoth big
drygoods store, an' I was some glad when noon arrived; but no one
called me to partake of dinner, so I went up to a young lad, an' sez,
"Where do they spread it?"
"Spread what?" sez he.
"Dinner," sez I.
"I bring mine with me," sez he.
"Is the grub that rotten?" sez I.
"What grub?" sez he. "You surely don't think they serve meals here, do
you?"
"Do you mean to tell me that I got to find myself, out of forty a
month?" sez I.
He started to make up a joke, but I looked too famished to trifle with;
so he explained to me that all we got was wages, an' we couldn't even
sleep in the store. I was gettin' purty disgusted with business, but he
told me that the man what owned the whole store had started in as a
porter; so I went back an' portered harder than ever that afternoon,
wonderin' what in thunder kind of a man it was who could save enough
out of a porter's wages to buy a store like that. I was dressed some
different from the rest o' the folks around there, so I attracted a lot
of attention, an' the' wasn't much I did that wasn't enjoyed by more or
less of a crowd. When quittin' time came I hustled up to the feller
what had hired me an' told him I'd like to have my day's pay. "We don't
pay until Saturday night," sez he, hustlin' out o' the store. I stood
on the sidewalk thinkin'; an' what I was thinkin' of, was the nonsense
'at Sandy Fergoson had been talkin'. It didn't sound so foolish now.
The' was a little restaurant across the street, an' the owner of it had
noticed me washin' the windows--he had seemed to enjoy it too. I went
over an' told him that I would like to board with him if he would make
me rates. He sized me up an' sez he would board me for six dollars a
week. I didn't see how I could save enough to buy a store out of four
dollars a week, an' after I got tired o' seein' the sights I'd have to
rent a bed somewheres too; but what I needed then was food, so I agreed.
I sat down an' begun to eat slow, 'cause it's always best to warm up
careful on a long job. I et away peaceful an' contented until I got
good an' used to it again, an' then I kept the waiters hoppin' purty
lively. The proprietor took a deep interest in me, an' dodged around so
he could have an unobstructed view; while the rest of the guests got to
noticin' too, an' when they'd finish they'd just stick around an' keep
cases, until after a while things began to jam, an' every time I'd
order in some new food they'd make bets on whether I'd be able to
finish it or not. When I finally quit, the proprietor came up to me on
a run an' sez, "Are you sure you have had all you wish?"
"Yes," I sez, "an' I ain't no fault to find with the cookin' either."
He eyed me all over, an' then he drew me to one side. "I don't want to
go back on my word," sez he, "an' I don't intend to charge you a cent
for this meal; but Great Scott, man, I wouldn't board you for six
dollars a day, let alone six dollars a week."
I didn't intend to let him know that I was stone broke, 'cause it
didn't seem the thing in a business man; but I did tell him that I
hardly ever et quite so much as I had that night. Still, he wouldn't
take any chances, so I took my blankets an' went on. I was purty sleepy
after my meal, an' it was just all I could do to stagger up an' down
the hills, before I found a place to flop in. It was under a little
tree in a big yard, an' I got out at sun-up 'cause I didn't want any
one to see a business man occupyin' such quarters as that. I didn't
miss breakfast much that day, an' I went about my work singin' an'
whistlin'. Just before noon I found a hundred dollars on the floor
close to the door.
I asked every one around if they had lost any money, an' most of 'em
said no, an' them what bad lost any--an' the' was a purty high average
that mornin'--had all lost the wrong amount, or else it was in a
different kind of a sack; so I knocked off at noon, went to a new
restaurant, an' et a fair meal, which they charged me one dollar for. I
thought that was goin' a little stout for a porter, but I knew I'd find
a place where I could live on my income as soon as I got better
acquainted, an' I was purty light-hearted when I got back that noon.
"You're nineteen minutes late," sez the floor boss.
"Is that so; what's happened?" sez I, pleasantly.
"You are not supposed to take more than an hour for lunch," sez he.
"Well, you can just take the nineteen minutes out of the time I saved
up yesterday," sez I.
"You must understand right at the start that business depends on
method," sez he, sour like. "Mr. Hailsworth wishes to see you at once."
Hailsworth was the capital letter o' that outfit, an' I was glad o' the
chance to see him, 'cause the' was some several changes I wanted to
make in the porterin' department. I follered the floor boss upstairs
an' back to a private room, where a little wizen-faced old man sat up
an' looked at me over his spectacles. "I understand you found some
money?" sez he.
"I did," sez I. "Do you know who lost it?"
"Well, no, not yet," sez he; "but of course you understand that any
money that is found in this building belongs to the firm, unless its
rightful owner claims it."
"Well that's a new wrinkle" sez I. "Why don't it belong to me?"
"'Cause you have hired your time to me, an' whatever you find here you
find in my time, so it's mine. This is the law, an' I am very busy.
Just hand it over at once."
"That ain't right," sez I, "an' I don't intend to hand over a nickle of
it."
"Then we'll have to arrest you," sez he. I put my hand down to my leg,
but both my guns was rolled up in my blankets. "I'm goin' out to see a
lawyer," sez I, thinkin' that would be more business-like than to tell
him I 'd blow the top of his head off. The' was lots more things I
wanted to tell him, but it took most o' my strength to manage my
self-control; an' I allus like to have good footin' when I make my
spring. I didn't feel at home, either, an' that's a heap. It kind o'
got on my nerves to see that little shrimp squattin' there behind his
spectacles an' tellin' me what I had to do, the same as if I was a
hoss. I turned on my heel and strode out o' that store head up an' I
was some glad that Hammy had taught me what strodin' was, 'cause the
rest o' the gang opened up a path you could 'a' drove a
street-sprinkler through.
I didn't like the looks o' that lawyer, he reminded me of a rat. I
don't care much for the law anyhow. All the law is fit for is to take
care o' the weak an' the ignorant--an' they can't afford it. I've
noticed that much, the little time I've been penned up in cities. This
lawyer o' mine had full command o' the kind o' talk that bottles up a
man an' keeps him from expressin' himself. He said I had a good case
an' that he would save me my findin's, but that I had to give him half
of it for his services--in advance. If you don't tell a lawyer the
truth he can't fight your case; an' if you do you put yourself in his
power. Course I don't claim to be authority, but I just actually don't
like the law.
When I came away from the law office, a nice friendly feller got into
conversation with me, an' after I'd bought him a couple o' drinks, he
grew confidential an' told me his troubles. He was owner of a whole
block of buildin's an' a lot o' residence houses, but he was stone
broke. He had had a quarrel with the banks, an' couldn't raise a penny,
an' he had lost ten thousand dollars the night before, gamblin'. He
said it would take forty dollars for him to go to Los Angeles, where he
had friends who would lend him any amount. Otherwise they would
foreclose the little mortgage he had on the business block.
He talked along until I couldn't stand it any longer, so I give him the
forty on the condition that I was to be his collecting agent at wages
of two hundred a month, as soon as he got back from Los Angeles.
I went down to the station with him and then I hunted up a place where
I took board and lodging for a week at six dollars in advance. This
left me purt' nigh two dollars to go on until the real estate owner got
back. I called around at my lawyer's every day, an' he told me just to
lay low an' he'd keep me out o' trouble. Then the sixth day passed
without the real estate owner I told the lawyer about it an' asked him
if he thought anything might have happened. He got awful mad an' said
he'd ought to be kicked for not chargin' me ninety-five dollars for his
services in the first place; an' by Jinks that was the truth: that
rascally real-estate owner wasn't nothing but a flim-flammer.
At first I couldn't believe that the block he had showed me over didn't
belong to him; but when I did I was ready to wreak vengeance. The
lawyer said that wreakin' vengeance wasn't a thing that paid in city
life, but that if I ever met up with that flim-flammer I could scare a
lot of money out of him. My lawyer was a purty good sort of a feller,
after all, an' he gave me a lot of high-class advice. He told me that
it might be years before my case came up, an' that the' wasn't any use
of me waitin' around for it. Then he talked about business, an' he an'
Sandy Fergoson had about the same ideas of it, though they used
different words. He told me that it was all right for a boy to start in
in some old business an' learn the trade, but that the thing for a man
to do was to get a start in a smaller town, an' then after he'd learned
the ropes to come to the big town an' cut things wide open.
The more I thought over this the better it looked to me; but I hardly
knew where to start in. Then the thought struck me that about the best
business move I could make was to go to Los Angeles an' scare enough
money out of the flim-flammer to give me a good start in some little
business of my own. My board bein' out an' my cash bein' likewise, I
had to travel on foot; but as my back was pointed toward Frisco, I
didn't mind that much.
I trudged along for several days, an' the' was enough people along the
line to welcome me to my meals, so I begun to get more resigned to
bein' a human again. The farther I got from Frisco the nearer I got to
Los Angeles, an' though I was some anxious to meet up with the
flim-flammer, I finally began to doubt if he was worth the bother, an'
besides, he might not be there anyway.
I was beginnin' to get good an' sick of business; an' I was more than
convinced that gettin' a feller's own consent to engage in it wasn't
the hardest step he'd ever have to take. Wayside friends was beginnin'
to get mighty scarce, an' I was feelin' lonesome above the average one
mornin', when I came to a pause in front of one o' these little
six-acre ranches where they raise lawn grass an' fresh air. It was a
purty, restful sort of a place, with a double row of trees leadin' up
to the house, an' somethin' seemed to be drawin' me in at the front
gate, although I couldn't smell any food cookin', either. I only waited
about a minute, an' then I followed the draw.
I'm a firm believer in Fate. Fate is a funny word: leave the first
letter off, an' it 's the cause; leave the last letter off, an' it's
the result. Barbie found this out one night when we was discussin'
Fate. But I mean the sober side o' Fate, when I say I believe in it. A
train starts out o' New York city just the same time that a fool cow
puncher ropes a pony so he can ride to town for a big time. The puncher
reaches the washed-out railroad bridge five minutes before the
train--what do you call that?
I was thinkin' o' these things while I was walkin' up the drive-way;
an' when I raised up my hand to knock, I felt just as if I'd been sent
for.