ur honour to go on for half an
hour; we will now have a talk with bonny Mrs Slick.' Saying this, they
quitted the room without closing the door.

"Slick was not jealous. Not he; besides, the bar was full of people; it
was all a trick of the gents, who were behind the door watching him.
After all they were but novices, and he would win their money, he only
regretted that the bet had not been heavier.

"Twenty minutes had fairly passed, when Slick's own little boy entered
the room. `Pa,' said he, `there is a gemman what wants you below in the
bar.'

"`Another trick,' thought the landlord; `they shan't have me, though.--
Here she goes, there she goes.' And as the boy approached near to him
to repeat his errand, Slick gave him a kick. `Get away--Here she goes,
there she goes.'

"The boy went away crying, and soon returned with Mrs Slick, who cried,
in an angry tone, `Now don't make a fool of yourself; the gentleman you
sold the town-lot to is below with the money.'

"`They shan't have me though,' said Slick to himself. And to all the
invectives and reproaches of Mrs Slick he answered only with, `Here she
goes, there she goes.' At last the long needle marked the half hour;
and the landlord, having won the wager, turned round.

"`Where are they?' said he to his wife. `They; who do you mean?'
answered she.

"`The two gentlemen, to be sure.'

"`Why, they have been gone these last twenty minutes.'

"Slick was thunderstruck, `and the pocket-book?' he uttered,
convulsively.

"His wife looked at him with ineffable contempt.

"`Why, you fool, you did not give them your money, did you?'

"Slick soon discovered that he was minus five hundred dollars, besides
the price of the two dinners. Since that time he never bets but cash
down, and in the presence of witnesses."

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Note 1. The prairie wolf is a very different animal from the common
wolf, as will be understood by the reader when I give a description of
the animals found in California and Texas.

CHAPTER THIRTY.

We continued our route for a few days, after we had left the buffaloes,
and now turned our horses' heads due east. Having left behind the
localities frequented by the wild herds, we soon become exposed to the
cravings of hunger. Now and then we would fall in with a prairie hen, a
turkey, or a few rattlesnakes, but the deer and antelopes were so shy,
that though we co