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20 simple and natural fact; "the old woman 's educated them out of all that. But, as I was saying, I made their father. He'd managed to scrape together a little pile, put it all in a small prospect, and lost every nickel. He was just about dead broke, and came to me crying—yes, crying—and said, 'Colonel Reed, there 's only one man in California whose advice I 'd follow and whose opinion I 'd trust.' 'Who's that?' said I, intending to help the poor devil to the best of my ability. 'It 's Ramsay Reed,' said he. 'Well,' said I, 'if you 'll just put yourself in my hands, and do what I tell you, I 'll set you on your feet.' 'Colonel,' said he, 'say the word, and whatever it is, it goes. You've got more financial ability in your little finger than all the rest of 'em have in their whole bodies.' So I took him in hand."

The colonel paused, a reflective smile wrinkling the skin at the corners of his eyes.

"You certainly seem to have made a success of his case," said Gault, feeling that some comment was expected of him.

"Yes, yes," said the colonel; "I may say a great success. The poor fellow's confidence in me made me determined to do my best. I used to give him points—those were the days when I could give points. Told him if he would follow the lead west of the Little Bertha—people had hardly heard of the Little Bertha then