, serious as he had been throughout, and
they, stopping their noise short, swiftly picked up their boxes, and
followed him. Some change in the current of electricity that fed the
window disturbed its sparkling light, so that Santa Claus, with his arms
stretched out behind the departing cow-puncher seemed to be smiling more
broadly from the midst of his flickering brilliance.

On their way to turkey, the host and his guests exchanged but few
remarks. He was full of good-will, and threw off a comment or two that
would have led to conversation under almost any circumstances save
these; but the minds of the guests were too distracted by this whole
state of things for them to be capable of more than keeping after Mr.
McLean in silence, at a wary interval, and with their mouths, during
most of the journey, open. The badge, the pistol, their patron's talk,
and the unusual dollars, wakened wide their bent for the unexpected,
their street affinity for the spur of the moment; they believed slimly
in the turkey part of it, but what this man might do next, to be
there when he did it, and not to be trapped, kept their wits jumping
deliciously; so when they saw him stop, they stopped instantly too, ten
feet out of reach. This was Denver's most civilized restaurant--that one
which Mr. McLean had remembered, with foreign dishes and private rooms,
where he had promised himself, among other things, champagne. Mr. McLean
had never been inside it, but heard a tale from a friend; and now he
caught a sudden sight of people among geraniums, with plumes and white
shirt-fronts, very elegant. It must have been several minutes that he
stood contemplating the entrance and the luxurious couples who went in.

"Plumb French!" he observed at length; and then, "Shucks!" in a key less
confident, while his guests ten feet away watched him narrowly. "They're
eatin' patty de parley-voo in there," he muttered, and the three
bootblacks came beside him. "Say, fellows," said Lin, confidingly, "I
wasn't raised good enough for them dude dishes. What do yu' say! I'm
after a place where yu' can mention oyster stoo without givin' anybody a
fit. What do yu' say, boys?"

That lighted the divine spark of brotherhood!

"Ah, you come along with us--we'll take yer! You don't want to go in
there. We'll show yer the boss place in Market Street. We won't lose
yer." So, shouting together in their shrill little city trebles, they
clustered about him, and one pulled at his