"I am out here for my health, at present," said I, vainly hunting a clean spot on the towel. "I have been advised by my physician to seek a place in the Far West that is high and dry. Benton"--and I laughed miserably, "certainly is dry." For now I began to appreciate the frankly affirmative responses to my previous confessions. "And high, judging by the rates." "Healthily dry, suh, in the matter of water," the Colonel approved. "We are not cursed by the humidity of New York State, grand old State that she is. Foh those who require water, there is the Platte only three miles distant. The nearer proximity of water we consider a detriment to the robustness of a community. Our rainy weather is toler'bly infrequent. The last spell we had--lemme see. There was a brief shower, scurcely enough to sanction a parasol by a lady, last May, warn't it, Bill? When we was camped at Rawlins' Springs, shooting antelope." "Some'ers about that time. But didn't last long--not more'n two minutes," Bill responded. "As foh fluids demanded by the human system, we are abundantly blessed, suh. There is scurcely any popular brand that you can't get in Benton, and I hold that we have the most skillful mixtologists in history. There are some who are artists; artists, suh. But mainly we prefer our likker straight." "We're high, too," Bill put in. "Well over seven thousand feet, 'cordin' to them railroad engineers." "Yes, suh, you are a mile and more nearer Heaven here in Benton than you were when beside the noble Hudson," supplemented the Colonel. "And the prices of living are reasonable; foh money, suh, is cheap and ready to hand. No drink is less than two bits, and a man won't tote a match across a street foh less than a drink. Money grows, suh, foh the picking. Our merchants are clearing thirty thousand dollars a month, and the professional gentleman who tries to limit his game is considered a low-down tin-horn. Yes, suh. This is the greatest terminal of the greatest railroad in the known world. It has Omaha, No'th Platte, Cheyenne beat to a frazzle. You cannot fail to prosper." They had been critically watching me wash and rearrange my clothing. "You are not heeled, suh, I see?" "Heeled?" I repeated. "Equipped with a shooting-iron, suh. Or do you intend to remedy that deficiency also?" "I have not been in the habit of carrying arms." "'Most everybody packs a gun or a bowie," Bill remarked. "Gents and ladies both. But there's no law ag'in not." I had finished my meager toilet, and was glad, for the espionage had been annoying. "Now I am at your service during a short period, gentlemen," I announced. "Later I have an engagement, and shall ask to be excused." The Colonel arose with alacrity. Bill stood, and seized his hat hanging at the head of the bed.