Page:Hard-pan; a story of bonanza fortunes (IA hardpanbonanza00bonnrich).pdf/54

42 said, to fill up the colonel's second and more persistent pause.

"Well, that 's how it is with me. If it was only myself I 'd not think twice of it. But I have to consider my daughter. It 's not the same with her. During her childhood she had every luxury, but lately I 've not been able to give her all that I'd like to, though, of course, she 's never really suffered. And just now my affairs are in such a devil of a tangle that—well, I was going to ask you if you could oblige me with a temporary loan—just a trifle to tide us over this spell of bad weather—say fifty dollars."

The colonel looked into the younger man's face quite unembarrassed, his old countenance still preserving its expression of debonair self-satisfaction. The money in his hand, he gave it a slight clink, and then dropped it into a worn leather purse with a clasp that snapped, and said gaily:

"This is the best medicine for low spirits. Not that mine are low—no, sir; it takes more than a temporary shortness of funds to knock out a pioneer of '49. Whether it's champagne or beer or water, there 's no difference when it comes to quenching your thirst, and at my age that 's all you want to drink for."

"You 're a better philosopher than most of the pioneers," said Gault, feeling the embar-