Fer a spell, we all just looked at each other. Then, the _pro_cession formed and moved east--towards the parson's. A square table was inside. On it was a lot of bottles and glasses and a pack of cards--nothin' more. Ole sin-killer, too! I spoke up: "They's gone, boys,--but what about they _land?_" "Wal," answers one feller, "I don't think the doc _had_ none. 'Cause I bought the Merchants' _Ex_change site offen him yesterday." "And I bought the Normal School block offen the parson," says Number Two. "And what I got from the real-estate feller last night," adds the hotel clerk, "must 'a' come nigh to cleanin' _him_ out." Another spell of quiet. Then---- "I wonder," _re_marks the station-agent, "if that Rockafeller telegram was _genuwine._" The postmaster throwed up his hands. "We're it!" he says. "We sole our sand fer a song, and we bought it back at a steep figger." "With all that money," adds the hotel clerk, "they must 'a' had to walk bow-laigged." "My friends," says the station-agent, "the drinks is on us!" * * * * * And me? Wal, I wandered 'round fer a while--like I was plumb loco. When I landed up at last, I seen somethin' white in front of me. It was a sign, and it said, "The Lloyd Addition." I sit down on my little pile of stakes, and pulled out the last letter I'd got from Macie. "Dear Alec," it begun, "I'm so glad you got you' land----" I didn't read no further. I looked off acrosst the mesquite in the _di_rection of Briggs City. "The land ain't no good," I says. "And all my money's gone." And I laid my haid down on my arms. Just then, outen a bunch of grass not far off, I heerd the spunky little song of a lark! I riz up. "Anyhow," I says, "I'm goin' home. Mebbe I look like a bum; but I'm goin' back where I got some friends! I'm goin' back where they call me Cupid!" CHAPTER TWELVE AND A BOOM AT BRIGGS I GOT back all right. It takes two dollars and six-bits to git from Goldstone to Briggs City on the Local. But if you happen to have a little flat bottle in you' back pocket, you ride in the freight caboose fer nothin'. I _had_ a flat bottle. I swapped "The Lloyd Addition" fer it. When I hit ole Briggs City, she looked all right t' _me,_ I can tell y'. And so did the boys. And by noon I was plumb wored out, I'd gassed so much. Wal, I went over and sit down on the edge of Silverstein's porch to rest my face and hands. Pretty soon, I heerd a hoss a-comin' up the street--_clickety, clickety, clickety, click._ It stopped at the post-office, right next me. I looked up--and here was Macie! Say! I felt turrible, 'cause I hadn't slicked up any yet. But she didn't seem to notice. She knowed they was somethin' gone wrong though, 'fore ever I said a word. She just helt out one soft little hand. "Never you mind, Alec," she says; "never you mind." My little gal! "It means punchin' cows fer four years at forty per, Macie," I says to her.