"My name's not Morton. My last name is Goodwin--Morton Goodwin." This correction was made as a man always attends to trifles when he is trying to decide a momentous question. "Morton Goodwin?" said Burchard, looking at him keenly, as the two stood together in the moonlight. Then, after pausing a moment, he added: "I had a crony by the name of Lew Goodwin, once. Devilish hard case he was, but good-hearted. Got killed in a fight in Pittsburg." "He was my brother," said Morton. "Your brother? thunder! You don't mean it. Let's see; he told me once his father's name was Moses--no; Job. Yes, that's it--Job. Is that your father's name?" "Yes." "I reckon the old folks must a took Lew's deviltry hard. Didn't kill 'em, did it?" "No." "Both alive yet?" "Yes." "And now you want to kill both of 'em by committing suicide. You ought to think a little of your mother----" "Shut your mouth," said Morton, turning fiercely on Burchard; for he suddenly saw a vision of the agony his mother must suffer. "Oh! don't get mad. I'm going to let you have back your horse and gun, only you must give me a bill of sale so that I may be sure you won't gamble them away to somebody else. You must redeem them on your honor in six months, with a hundred and twenty-five dollars. I'll do that much for the sake of my old friend, Lew Goodwin, who stood by me in many a tight place, and was a good-hearted fellow after all." Morton accepted this little respite, and Burchard left the tavern. As it was now past midnight, Goodwin did not go to bed. At two o'clock he gave Dolly corn, and before daylight he rode out of the village. But not toward home. His gambling and losses would be speedily reported at home and to Captain Lumsden. And moreover, Kike would persecute him worse than ever. He rode out of town in the direction opposite to that he would have taken in returning to Hissawachee, and he only knew that it was opposite. He was trying what so many other men have tried in vain to do--to run away from himself. But not the fleetest Arabian charger, nor the swiftest lightning express, ever yet enabled a man to leave a disagreeable self behind. The wise man knows better, and turns round and faces it.