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Updated: June 15, 2025
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!
When Mizzou and his companion entered the room, the hum of talk died, and every one turned expectantly in the direction of the newcomers. "Gents," said Old Mizzou, "this is Mr. de Laney, th' new sup'rintendent of th' Holy Smoke. Mr. de Laney, gents!" There was a nodding of heads. Every one looked eagerly expectant. The man behind the bar turned back his cuffs.
The other member of the community was Davidson, alias Old Mizzou. The latter was cordial and voluble. As he was blessed with a long white beard of the patriarchal type, he inspired confidence. He used exclusively the present tense and chewed tobacco. He also played interminable cribbage. Likewise he talked. The latter was his strong point.
"Wall," commented Lawton, after a pause, "that is a good drink. Reckon I must be goin'." "Stay t' grub!" urged Old Mizzou heartily. "Folks waitin'. Remember!" They looked at Bennington and chuckled a little, to that young man's discomfort. "Lawton's a damn fine fella'," said Old Mizzou with emphasis. Bennington thought, with a shudder, of the loose-skinned, turkey-red neck, and was silent.
"I knows you a good while, Slayton " began Mizzou, but was interrupted almost immediately by a third voice, that of Arthur. "The point is this," said the latter sharply, "Davidson here is in a position to give you possession of this group o' claims, but he ain't in a position to appear in th' transaction. How are you goin' to purtect him an' me so we gets something out of it?"
The tabulations and statistics only needed copying to prepare them for the capitalist's eye. The information necessary to the understanding of them reposed in a grimy notebook, requiring merely throwing into shape as a letter to make them valuable to the Eastern owner of the property. Anybody could do that. Old Mizzou explained these things to Bennington.
"I wonder why Mizzou didn't bring it up with him last night?" Then he remembered the old man's watery eye and laughed. "I guess I know," he thought. The next thing was to find the men named in the letter. He did not know them from Adam. Mizzou saw no difficulty, however, when the matter was laid before him. "They're in th' Straight Flush!" he asserted positively. This was astounding.
Now the impatience grew in intensity. He resolved that if the morrow did not end the storm, he would tramp down the gulch to make a call. All this time Aliris lay quite untouched. The next day dawned darker than ever. After breakfast Old Mizzou, as usual, went out to feed the horses, and Bennington, through sheer idleness, accompanied him.
They offered no explanation of their whereabouts during the trouble, but Bennington surmised shrewdly that they had hunted a dry place. "Glory!" cried Old Mizzou. "Lucky she misses us!" "What was it? Where'd it come from?" inquired Bennington, shaking the surface drops from his shoulders. He was wet through. "Cloud-burst," replied the miner. "She hit up th' ridge a ways.
It all had to happen over again. Bennington hoped that this performance would cease in time. It never did. By a mental process, unnecessary to trace here, he modified his first views, and permitted Old Mizzou to get the mail. Spanish Gulch saw him no more. After all, it was quite as good Western experience to wander in the hills. He did not regret the other.
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