"Faint heart never won a fair lady, my boy, and I'm going to try it, if it takes a leg off."
"I believe you are serious, Windy; I thought you were kiddin'!"
"Kiddin' nothing; I was serious from the go-off."
"Well, Windy, old pard, I wish you luck but it don't look to me as if you'd make it. Too big a contract."
"Time will tell."
We had many another talk on the subject, Billy bantering me every time, for he either couldn't or wouldn't believe I was serious. We had been together so long, that he was loath to believe I would desert him.
One evening when I came home from work I informed Billy that I had made up my mind positively to start out on my trip at the end of the week. You should have seen him when I told him this. At first he argued, then, seeing that did no good, he called me all kinds of a fool, and cursed and fumed. He finally told me to go to hades if I wished, for he had no strings on me. He didn't care a tinker's damn how soon I went, or what became of me. He hoped I'd get drowned, or, if not that, then pinched as soon as I set foot on British soil. The little fellow was badly wrought up. I informed him it was my intention to beat my way to New York and that when I got that far, I would plan the next move. I told him also that I didn't believe in crossing a river until I got to it, and that I would find some means of crossing the ocean. He sarcastically advised me again to swim across, but I took no heed. We parted the next morning and I knew Billy felt sore, but he didn't show it. He told me that he should remain in 'Frisco, and that I would find him there when I came back, that is, if I ever came back.
"Oh, I'll come back, my boy; never fear."
"And mind what I told you about my folks. If you go to London they live only a short way from there, and if you see them tell them all about me."