“I was trying to lose a life,” she answered, quietly, her eyes dwelling on his face, yet not seeing him; for it all came back on her, the agony which had driven her out into the tempest to be lost evermore.
He laughed. “Well now, that’s good,” he said; “that’s what they call speaking sarcastic. You was out to save, and not to lose, a life; that was proved to the satisfaction of the court.” He paused and chuckled to himself, thinking he had been witty, and continued: “And I was that court, and my judgment was that the debt of that life you saved had to be paid to you within one calendar year, with interest at the usual per cent. for mortgages on good security. That was my judgment, and there’s no appeal from it. I am the great Justinian in this case!”
“Did you ever save anybody’s life?” she asked, putting the bottle of cordial away, as he filled his glass for the third time.
“Twice certain, and once divided the honors,” he answered, pleased at the question.
“And did you expect to get any pay, with or without interest?” she added.
“Me! I never thought of it again. But yes—by gol, I did! One case was funny, as funny can be. It was Ricky Wharton over on the Muskwat River. I saved his life right enough, and he came to me a year after and said, ‘You saved my life, now what are you going to do with it? I’m stony broke. I owe a hundred dollars, and I wouldn’t be owing it if you hadn’t saved my life. When you saved it I was five hundred to the good, and I’d have left that much behind me. Now I’m on the rocks, because you insisted on saving my life; and you just got to take care of me.’ I ‘insisted’! Well, that knocked me silly, and I took him on—blame me, if I didn’t keep Ricky a whole year, till he went north looking for gold. Get pay?—why, I paid! Saving life has its responsibilities, little gal.”
“You can’t save life without running some risk yourself, not as a rule, can you?” she said, shrinking from his familiarity.
“Not as a rule,” he replied. “You took on a bit of risk with me, you and your Piegan pony.”
“Oh, I was young,” she responded, leaning over the table and drawing faces on a piece of paper before her. “I could take more risks, I was only nineteen!”
“I don’t catch on,” he rejoined. “If it’s sixteen or—”