“Will, it doesn’t seem possible that you’ve earned all this!”
“Well, I guess if you’d been along, ma, you’d have known that I earned them; wouldn’t she, Dave!” laughed Billy. “I earned enough just while I was in the mule fort to keep us the rest of our lives—only, I haven’t got it yet.”
“You’ll never go out again, will you, Will?” appealed his mother anxiously. “Promise me.”
Billy put his arms about her and hugged her tight. She was a frail little mother, not nearly as strong as Billy, and she never felt well, Billy had explained to Dave. Now he said, holding her:
“I can’t promise, ma. We need the money, and that’s the quickest way to earn it. But I always come back safe, don’t I? Don’t you ever worry about me. I can take care of myself. I’m as good as a man, you know.”
Mother Cody only sighed, and kissed him. She said nothing more.
V
DAVY GOES ON HERD
“Red,” said Billy, after three weeks had passed, “what do you want to do? I’m going out again.”