right out before the ladies, 'Damn it! bring me forty
dollars' worth of ham and aiggs.' He was a funny senator, now."

The Virginian paused, and finished eating a leg. And then with diabolic
art he made a feint at wandering to new fields of anecdote. "Talkin' of
senators," he resumed, "Senator Wise--"

"How much did you say wages were at Tulare?" inquired one of the Trampas
faction.

"How much? Why, I never knew what the foreman got. The regular hands got
a hundred. Senator Wise--"

"A hundred a MONTH?"

"Why, it was wet an' muddy work, yu' see. A man risked rheumatism some.
He risked it a good deal. Well, I was going to tell about Senator Wise.
When Senator Wise was speaking of his visit to Alaska--"

"Forty per cent, was it?" said Trampas.

"Oh, I must call my wife'" said the traveller behind me. "This is what I
came West for." And he hurried away.

"Not forty per cent the bad years," replied the Virginian. "The frawgs
had enemies, same as cattle. I remember when a pelican got in the spring
pasture, and the herd broke through the fence--"

"Fence?" said a passenger.

"Ditch, seh, and wire net. Every pasture was a square swamp with a ditch
around, and a wire net. Yu've heard the mournful, mixed-up sound a big
bunch of cattle will make? Well, seh, as yu' druv from the railroad to
the Tulare frawg ranch yu' could hear 'em a mile. Springtime they'd sing
like girls in the organ loft, and by August they were about ready to
hire out for bass. And all was fit to be soloists, if I'm a judge. But
in a bad year it might only be twenty per cent. The pelican rushed 'em
from the pasture right into the San Joaquin River, which was close
by the property. The big balance of the herd stampeded, and though of
course they came out on the banks again, the news had went around, and
folks below at Hemlen eat most of 'em just to spite the company. Yu'
see, a frawg in a river is more hopeless than any maverick loose on the
range. And they never struck any plan to brand their stock and prove
ownership."

"Well, twenty per cent is good enough for me," said Trampas, "if Rawhide
don't suit me."

"A hundred a month!" said the enthusiast. And busy calculations began to
arise among them.

"It went to fifty per cent," pursued the Virginian, "when New York and
Philadelphia got to biddin' agaynst each other. Both cities had signs
all over 'em claiming to furnish the Tulare frawg. And both had 'em all
right. And same as cattle trains, y