"Once, a long time
ago, I guess I felt just like you do now."
With which cryptic remark he went for the coffee.
Aldous looked up in time to see the boy stagger sleepily out of the tepee.
There was something pathetic about the motherlessness of the picture, and
he understood a little of what Stevens had meant.
An hour later, with breakfast over, they started for Curly's. Curly was
pulling on his boots when they arrived, while his wife was frying the
inevitable bacon in the kitchen.
"I hear you have some horses for sale, Curly," said Aldous.
"Hi 'ave."
"How many?"
"Twenty-nine, 'r twenty-eight--mebby twenty-seven."
"How much?"
Curly looked up from the task of pulling on his second boot.
"H'are you buying 'orses or looking for hinformation?" he asked.
"I'm buying, and I'm in a hurry. How much do you want a head?"
"Sixty, 'r six----"
"I'll give you sixty dollars apiece for twenty-eight head, and that's just
ten dollars apiece more than they're worth," broke in Aldous, pulling a
check-book and a fountain pen from his pocket. "Is it a go?"
A little stupefied by the suddenness of it all, Curly opened his mouth and
stared.
Pages:
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110