n' see that Hammy's bluff had stuck,
so he girded up his loins an' sez, "Sir, it gives me great pleasure to
make your acquaintance. My uncle, Silas Martin, the late copper king,
has just died, leavin' me as his sole heir; an' I have been seein' a
bit of my own country, preparatory to a prolonged trip around the
world."

Lord Arthur, he jumps to his feet an' shakes hands with 'em, tellin'
'em to just cut out his title, as he was a simple Democrat while in the
United States.

I hardly knew what to do. I didn't hold openers, an' yet if I didn't
draw some cards an' see it out I stood to lose entirely. I had been
corralin' a heap o' city langwidge since I had been cooped up with
Locals an' Hammy, but my heart failed me. I knew I was still some shy
on society manners; but I also knew 'at the' was a heap o' bluffin'
goin' on, so I stuck up my bet an' called.

"Artie," I sez, holdin' out my hand, "you 're the first lord my eyes
has ever feasted on; but I like you--you're game. It ain't many 'at
will own up to bein' a Democrat these days, not even in the secrecy of
the ballot box, but here in Nevada you're safe. Pa has just retired
from business, leavin' me this little mine; but it only pays about ten
million a year now, so I've made up my mind not to bother with it, but
to shut it down an' go on a tour of the world with my two friends here.
I never cared much for school, so this will be a good way to finish my
edication. We was up here last fall seein' that things was closed in
proper order, an' waited for the watchman to come up from below, when
we expected to drive down to our special train an' start for Paris. But
the snow came unexpected, and the expected watchman failed to come; and
here we are, with no food fit for a human, an' all our servants in the
special train, ninety miles away."

When I begun my oration Locals and Hammy leaned forward, holdin' their
breath; but when they see 'at I wasn't turnin' out no schoolboy article
of a lie, they settled back with a long sigh, an' I could tell by their
faces 'at they were takin' pride in my work. They was about the best
qualified judges o' that kind o' work I ever met up with, an' I'll own
'at I never felt prouder in my life 'an I did when Hammy slapped me on
the back as soon as I finished an' sez to Artie, "Me Lord, this is a
typical American. He plans his life on larger things than rules; but
you can depend on him--yea, though the heavens fall, you can depend on
Jack he