"I suppose it will sometime. But that has nothing to do with my drinking. I promised old Cale Durg to quit, and I've done it. And I never took a better trail in my life. I'm fresh as a daisy, strong as a full-grown elk, and happy as an antelope on a wide range." "All right, Jack. But I must drink. Come, boys--all that will--come up and wet down at my expense." California Joe and most of the others joined in the invitation, and Captain Jack took a cigar rather than "lift a shingle from the roof," as he said. "Where are you bound, Bill?" asked Captain Jack, as Bill placed his empty glass on the counter, and turned around. "To the Black Hills with your crowd--that is if I live to get there." "Live! You haven't any thought of dying, have you? I never saw you look better." "Then I'll make a healthy-looking corpse, Jack. For I tell you my time is nearly up; I've felt it in my bones this six months. I've seen ghosts in my dreams, and felt as if they were around me when I was awake. It's no use, Jack, when a chap's time comes he has got to go." "Nonsense, Bill; don't think of anything like that. A long life and a merry one--that's my motto. We'll go out to the Black Hills, dig out our fortunes, and then get out of the wilderness to enjoy life." "Boy, I've never known the happiness outside of the wilderness that I have in it. What you kill there is what was made for killing--the food we need. What one kills among civilization is only too apt to be of his own kind." And Bill shuddered as if he thought of the many he had sent into untimely graves. "Stuff, Bill! You're half crazed by your dramatic trip. You've acted so much, that reality comes strange. Let's go out to camp and have a talk about what is ahead of us." "Not till I buy a horse, Jack. I want a good horse under me once more; I've ridden on cars and steamboats till my legs ache for a change." "There's a sale's stable close by. Let's go and see what stock is there," said Sam Chichester. "Agreed!" cried all hands, and soon Bill and his friends were at the stable, looking at some dozen or more horses which were for sale. "There's the beauty I want," said Wild Bill, pointing to a black horse, full sixteen hands high, and evidently a thoroughbred. "Name your price, and he is my meat!" "That horse isn't for sale now. He was spoken for an hour ago, or maybe less by a cash customer of mine--a red-haired chap from Texas." _"Red-haired_ chap from Texas!" muttered Bill, "Red-haired cusses from Texas are always crossin' my trail. That chap from Abilene was a Texas cattle-man, with hair as red as fire. Where is your cash customer, Mr. Liveryman?" "Gone out riding somewhere," replied the stable-keeper. "When he comes back, tell him Wild Bill wants that horse, and I reckon he'll let Wild Bill buy him, if he knows when he is well off! I wouldn't give two cusses and an amen for all the rest of the horses in your stable; I want _him!_"