I didn't have anything to say to her that would help, so I didn't say
anything; an' after we had ridden on a while she said, "Happy, I don't
want you to be a business man. The Easterners that rile me up worse
than any other kind are the business men. They allus calculate how a
thing could be turned into money. Why, if one of 'em lived out here
he'd put a cash value on of Mount Savage. They allus make me think o'
Dombey."
"What was th' about that buckskin mustang to make you think of a
business man?" sez I, thinkin' she meant a little ridin' pony she used
to have.
"I don't mean Dobbins," sez she, "I mean a character out of a book. He
was such a good business man that he let most of life slip by him. I
don't want you to do that." "Well, I'll try not to," sez I, "an' it may
be that beginnin' late in life like I am, I won't become enough of a
business man to get that way; but the' is one thing sure--I 'm through
with my nonsense. I'm not goin' around playin' like a boy any more, I'm
goin' to start in an' stick to business all this summer, an' see what
comes of it."
"Where you goin' to start in?" sez she.
"How do I know?" sez I. "I'm just goin' to knock around till I meet up
with a business openin', an' then I 'm goin' to put my full might into
it till I know the whole game."
"I don't believe that's the way they do it," sez she. "These ones that
I've heard braggin' about bein' business men don't look to me as if
they ever did much knockin' around. They generally have everything all
planned out when they begin, and then follow out the plans. Are you
goin' to start in some town or go into a big city?"
"Well, I can tell you more about it when I get back," sez I. "I stayed
three days in San Francisco oncet, but I didn't like it--it was too
cramped up. I'm thinkin' o' headin' that way though."
"Well, as soon as you've give business a good fair try-out, you'll come
back here an' tell us about it, won't you?" sez she. The sun had
dropped by this time; but I could still make out her face in the
twilight. The eyes were big an' soft an' glisteny, the lips were parted
an' were tremblin' a little; it was a brave little face, but it looked
lonesome. Something began to tighten around my heart, an' I didn't want
to go; but I had put my hands to the plow, an' I didn't intend to
back-track till I'd turned one full furrow. "Yes," I sez. "Honor
bright, just as soon as I've give it a fair trial I'll come back an'
let you know."
"You'll come before it snows if you can, won't you?" she sez, an' I
nodded.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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