You got a little cash I
suppose--fifty dollars or so?"
"Huh? Yes--I--I--"
"Well, I got about fifty. We'll go pardners on the proposition, an'
we'll dally 'round the range yonder an' see what we can see. What do you
say?"
"Sure, sure," answered the dentist.
"Well, it's a go then, hey?"
"That's the word."
"Well, le's have a drink on it."
They drank with profound gravity.
They fitted out the next day at the general merchandise store of
Keeler--picks, shovels, prospectors' hammers, a couple of cradles, pans,
bacon, flour, coffee, and the like, and they bought a burro on which to
pack their kit.
"Say, by jingo, you ain't got a horse," suddenly exclaimed Cribbens as
they came out of the store. "You can't get around this country without a
pony of some kind."
Cribbens already owned and rode a buckskin cayuse that had to be knocked
in the head and stunned before it could be saddled. "I got an extry
saddle an' a headstall at the hotel that you can use," he said, "but
you'll have to get a horse."
In the end the dentist bought a mule at the livery stable for forty
dollars. It turned out to be a good bargain, however, for the mule was
a good traveller and seemed actually to fatten on sage-brush and potato
parings.
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