egretted had I not taken a strong fancy to him.

"My friend," said I, drawing him aside, "I don't want to be
inquisitive, but what might you do when you're home?"

"I'm a younger son," said he. I was green myself in those days, and
knew nothing of primogeniture.

"That is a very interesting piece of family history," said I, "but it
does not answer my question."

He smiled.

"Well now, I hadn't thought of that," said he, "but in a manner of
speaking, it does. I do nothing."

"Well," said I, unabashed, "if you saw me trying to be a younger son
and likely to forget myself and do something without meaning to,
wouldn't you be apt to warn me?"

"Well, 'pon honour, you're a queer chap. What do you mean?"

"I mean that if you hire any of those men to guide you in the
mountains, you'll be outrageously cheated, and will be lucky if you're
not gobbled by Apaches."

"Do you do any guiding yourself, now?" he asked, most innocent of
manner.

But I flared up.

"You damn ungrateful pup," I said, "go to the devil in your own way,"
and turned square on my heel.

But the young man was at my elbow, his hand on my shoulder.

"Oh, I say now, I'm sorry. I didn't rightly understand. Do wait one
moment until I dispose of these boxes of mine, and then I want the
honour of your further acquaintance."

He got some Greasers to take his trunks over to the hotel, then linked
his arm in mine most engagingly.

"Now, my dear chap," said he, "let's go somewhere for a B & S, and find
out about each other."

We were both young and expansive. We exchanged views, names, and
confidences, and before noon we had arranged to hunt together, I to
collect the outfit.

The upshot of the matter was that the Honourable Timothy Clare and I
had a most excellent month's excursion, shot several good bear, and
returned to Tucson the best of friends.

At Tucson was Schiefflein and his stories of a big strike down in the
Apache country. Nothing would do but that we should both go to see for
ourselves. We joined the second expedition; crept in the gullies, tied
bushes about ourselves when monumenting corners, and so helped
establish the town of Tombstone. We made nothing, nor attempted to.
Neither of us knew anything of mining, but we were both thirsty for
adventure, and took a schoolboy delight in playing the game of life or
death with the Chiricahuas.

In fact, I never saw anybody take to the wild life as eagerly as the
Honourable Timothy