ookin', an' I thought
the world o' Ches; but the' was a constant tuggin' at my heart to get
back to the Diamond Dot, back to the big, free sweep o' plains, back to
little Barbie.

I'd been soakin' away all Ches's stories an' ways, an' I knew she 'd be
full as interested in 'em as I was. I had had enough o' business too. I
could easy see 'at I wasn't cut out for a business man, but I generally
managed to round up a little wealth one way or another. I knew all
along that I didn't really have a taste for business; it was just that
fool talk o' Bill Andrews that made me want to cut loose from the
Diamond Dot. I'd made up my mind now on that question, an' it was
surprisin' how simple the answer was after I'd finally worked it out.
The answer was this: I had as good a right anywhere on earth as any one
else did. I was some company for Barbie at the Diamond Dot, an' it
suited us both first rate. If it got on Bill Andrews' nerves till he
couldn't keep it under his breath, why I'd have to furnish him with an
excuse for movin'; but as for myself, I'd just stick around until
things began to creak a little.

When Mr. Cameron came back, he made a big fuss over me an' Ches--he was
an' A1 sort of a man, Cameron was--an' he wanted me to stay right along
offerin' me big wages, which was a thing that Mrs. Cameron had forgot
all about, an' me too; but I didn't feel like stayin'; so I set a date
an' then it was settled. Besides, Ches would be goin' back to college
again soon.

Cameron was a real estate broker in the East, but was beginnin' to
study up on minin' propositions. He knew all about Slocum's Luck, that
is, he knew the' was such a mine, an' that they was still lawin' over
it; but when I asked him about ever havin' heard of a mine called the
Creole Belle, he shook his head an' said he never had. He hadn't heard
of Jack Whitman, nor George Jordan, nor even Sandy Fergoson; so I see
the' wasn't any use in stayin' around there, an' while I hated to part
with 'em, I was glad when the time came for me to say good-bye.

They wanted to give some kind of a present when I left; but the only
thing I'd accept of, was a pair of chickens. I had got used to eatin'
eggs whilst I was there, an' I knew 'at Barbie would like 'em; so they
put me up a rooster an' a hen in a basket, an' I rolled up my roll, an'
drove off to the depot with Ches. He was mighty sober when we got out
of sight of the house, an' after he did get to talkin' it was mostly o