The other laughed: "Guess they ain't much danger, if anything happens he won't be a-ridin' right on the head of it." The cowboy gathered up his reins, dropped them again, and his gloved fingers fumbled with his leather hat band. The smile had left his face. "Anything else, Bill?" asked Mrs. Samuelson, noting his evident reluctance to depart. "Well, ma'am, how's the Big Boss gittin' on?" "He's doing as well as could be expected, the doctor says." The cowboy cleared his throat nervously: "You know, us boys thinks a heap of him, an' we'd like fer him to git a square deal." "A square deal!" exclaimed the woman. "Why, what in the world do you mean?" "About that there doc--d'you s'pect he savvys his business?" "Of course he does! He's considered one of the best doctors in the State. Why do you ask?" "Well, it's this way. When he was goin' back to town yesterday I laid for him. You see, the Old Man--er, I mean--you know, ma'am, the Big Boss, he's a pretty sick man--an' it looks to us boys like things had ort to break pretty quick, one way er another. So, I says, 'Doc, how's he gittin' on?' an' the doc he says, jest like you done, 'good as could be expected.' When you come right down to cases, that don't tell you nothin'. So I says, 'that's 'cordin' to who's doin' the expectin'. What we want to know,' I says, 'is he goin' to git well, er is he goin' to die?' 'I confidently hope we're going to pull him through,' he comes back. 'Meanin', he's goin' to git well?' I says. 'Yes,' he says. 'Fer how much?' I asks him. I didn't have but thirty-five dollars on me, but I shook that in under his nose. You see, I wanted to find out if the fellow would back his own self up with his money. 'What do you mean?' he says. 'I mean,' I informs him, 'that money talks. Here's the Missus payin' you good wages fer to cure up the Old Man. You goin' to do it, an' earn them wages, or ain't you? Here's thirty-five dollars that says you can't cure him.'" The corners of the old lady's mouth were twitching behind the handkerchief she held to her lips: "What did the doctor say?" she asked.