Well, by the Jinks, but I was glad to see the boy, an' we hid away in a private room with two pure an' proper lemonades before us. He was a genuine minin' engineer, an' had been havin' lots of queer experiences. He wanted me to sign up with him, promisin' me that we'd have change of bill twice a week; but I finally prevailed upon him that I had aged considerable since our didoes with the goat, an' all of a sudden he ups an' sez, "By the way, old hat, I've got you news!" "Yes?" sez I. "Where'd you get it?" "Why, about the Creole Belle," sez he. "Creole Belle!" sez I. "Well, tell it, tell it. Why don't you tell it?" "Oh, fudge," sez he; "it's been long enough on the way, an' I reckon it'll keep a minute longer. The Creole Belle was a gold-mine named after a woman." "Good or bad?" sez I. "Good," sez he. "Paid two hundred dollars to the ton in spots." "I meant the woman, confound ya," sez I. "Well, it seems that she was a purty square sort of a woman," sez Ches, "but I didn't suppose 'at you'd care much about her. The mine--" I groaned. "Well, you fool me," sez Ches, seein' I was in earnest. "The' was a purty florid romance mixed up in it too; but I didn't suppose you was interested in such things, an' I didn't pay much heed to that part of it." "That's allus the way when a boy does anything," sez I, with peevishness. "Now you set there an' think up all you can about the deal--everything." "Well," sez Ches, slowly, "it seems that a couple o' young Easterners came out to find their fortune. They was the true Damon an' Pythias brand o' partners, an' stood back to back durin' a protracted spell o' good, stiff, copper-bottomed misfortune. They finally located a mine that looked good-natured an' generous; but it was a fooler. One day it coaxed 'em an' next it give 'em the laugh. Finally they each got down in turn with mountain-fever an' a beautiful young girl nursed 'em. She was there with her father, who was workin' a claim near by. He was an odd sort of chap to be minin'--though come to think of, that's not possible, seein' that all kinds o' men--" "Ches," I breaks in, "will you kindly get on with that tale, or must I shake it out o' you?" He seemed mightily surprised, but he went on: "Well, the girl was a beauty, an' she had a gigantic maid--" "Monody!" I shouted. "Keeno!" shouts back Ches, some exasperated. "Now that wasn't slang nor sarcasm what I was usin'," sez I, smoothin' it over. "That gigantic maid you mentioned is part o' the tale that you don't know yet." "Well, naturally, while they was bein' nursed they both fell in love with her--" "With Monody?" I yells.