n an' the big
maid watched over the girl careful, an' the' wasn't no harm come of it;
an' when the mine finally got to handin' out the gilt without jokin'
about it, the two pals got to goin' off alone an' thinkin' o' the girl
back East. They had four or five miners workin' for 'em by this time,
an' they was gettin' the dust in quantities. Finally they got together
about it. It seems that they had an agreement that neither one would
propose to the girl without the other's consent, but they had each been
makin' gentle-love in their letters to her, while she didn't seem to
know which she liked best."

"Where'd you learn all this?" sez I.

"Oh, I've been askin' all the of miners I've met," sez Ches, "an' at
last I found one who knew the whole of it. All of 'em knew something;
things ain't done secret in a minin' camp, an' all the boys got
interested. Well, they finally agreed to play five hands o' draw for
the first chance to propose. If the lucky one got the girl he was to
pay the loser half the profits. If he lost an' the second feller got
the girl on his proposal, he was to get mine an' girl both. They was
still fond o' the Creole Belle an' she was fond o' them--from all
accounts they was men above the average, all right. Well, they played
the five hands an' it was even bones at the fourth show. Then Jordan
made a crooked move o' some kind, an' Whitman called for a new deal. It
was the first suspicion that had ever raised its head between 'em, an'
they looked into each other's eyes a long time; then Jordan dealt again
an' Whitman won.

"He wrote to the girl, an' after a time she answered, sayin' yes.
Jordan an' Whitman wasn't such good pals as before; but when the girl
was due to arrive they started down in the stage to meet her, both
together. Just as they was goin' by the of man's claim--Ol' Pizarro, or
some such a name as that he had--the stage lost a front wheel an'
Whitman got a broken leg. They took him into the ol' man's cabin, sent
a man on hoss-back after the doctor, an' Whitman insisted that Jordan
ride on down to meet the girl. They'd had a hard time gettin' the girl
to consent to come at all; but she was an orphan with only a faithful
servant for a family, an' she had finally give in, seein' as Jordan
would be there as her best friend; an' now Whitman forced Jordan to go
down an' meet her." I remembered the letter 'at little Barbie had made
me read, an' I was able to guess the rest.

"Well, Jordan met th