ich was from his
sister. Forrest's letter was from a sweetheart, and after reading it a
few times, he burnt it, and that was all we ever knew of its contents,
for he was too foxy to say anything, even if it had not been
unfavorable. Borrowstone swaggered around camp that evening in a new
pair of boots, which had the Lone Star set in filigree-work in their
red tops.

At our last camp at the lakes, The Rebel and I, as partners, had been
shamefully beaten in a game of seven-up by Bull Durham and John
Officer, and had demanded satisfaction in another trial around the
fire that night. We borrowed McCann's lantern, and by the aid of it
and the camp-fire had an abundance of light for our game. In the
absence of a table, we unrolled a bed and sat down Indian fashion over
a game of cards in which all friendship ceased.

The outfit, with the exception of myself, had come from the same
neighborhood, and an item in Honeyman's letter causing considerable
comment was a wedding which had occurred since the outfit had left. It
seemed that a number of the boys had sparked the bride in times past,
and now that she was married, their minds naturally became reminiscent
over old sweethearts.

"The way I make it out," said Honeyman, in commenting on the news, "is
that the girl had met this fellow over in the next county while
visiting her cousins the year before. My sister gives it as a
horseback opinion that she'd been engaged to this fellow nearly eight
months; girls, you know, sabe each other that way. Well, it won't
affect my appetite any if all the girls I know get married while I'm
gone."

"You certainly have never experienced the tender passion," said Fox
Quarternight to our horse wrangler, as he lighted his pipe with a
brand from the fire. "Now I have. That's the reason why I sympathize
with these old beaus of the bride. Of course I was too old to stand
any show on her string, and I reckon the fellow who got her ain't so
powerful much, except his veneering and being a stranger, which was a
big advantage. To be sure, if she took a smile to this stranger, no
other fellow could check her with a three-quarter rope and a snubbing
post. I've seen girls walk right by a dozen good fellows and fawn over
some scrub. My experience teaches me that when there's a woman in it,
it's haphazard pot luck with no telling which way the cat will hop.
You can't play any system, and merit cuts little figure in general
results."

"Fox," said Durham,