Laramie rallied. He had faced worse crises.
“I’ll take it, anyhow,” he said cheerfully. “I aint clean busted.”
“No,” said Tex. And he added with significant disapproval: “Not yet! But if you come back with your fifty cents, you’ll be doing well.”
So Laramie Red was quitting! Considerable more remained to be said upon the subject, chiefly among his mates. And the chantey welled with drawl of chorus his-way directed:
After the round-up’s over,
After the shipping’s done,
I’m going ho-ome, boys,
Never more to roam.
Capped by the remindful—
Gimme a platter o’ Lillian Russell,*