"No, indeed," said the jeweller, as if the very thought of such a thing was foreign to him. "I ain't a-going to let anybody know that you left me to go pearl-hunting. Good luck to you and good-bye."
Sam Houston left the store feeling much as a school-boy does who has been released from a long siege of study. He was a free man, and he could go where he pleased, and it pleased him just then to turn his steps toward Joe Lufkin's house. He thought he might as well make hay while the sun shone; but suppose anything should happen so that he could not get Joe to go in search of that mine? He would have to go after it himself, and he almost dreaded the experiment. He knew that the streams, as he remembered them, were all tangled up with brush and drift-wood, and he lacked a pair of boots that would resist water and dirt; so what would he do if he came to a body of water that had to be explored while wading up to his knees?
"I'll get Joe to do that," said Sam, as he came within sight of the house. "Ah! There he is, sitting on the porch. Now, how am I going to get him away from there?"
Joe Lufkin was sitting in front of the door smoking his pipe. He looked surprised and alarmed when he saw Sam approaching, pulled his pipe from his mouth and partly got upon his feet, and when Sam touched his hat and said "Good day, Mr. Lufkin," the man hardly knew what reply to make. He hadn't expected to meet Sam up there, and he might know something about that kidnapping scheme and came there to talk to him about it.
"Howdy," said Joe.
"Are you very busy just now?" said Sam, although he could see for himself that Joe wasn't doing anything. "If you are not, come out here a minute."
"What do you reckon you want of me?" asked Joe. "You might as well tell me here."
"Come here to the gate so that I can speak to you," he added. "I declare if the man hasn't been up to something," he said to himself. "I wonder what it is?"
Joe very reluctantly got upon his feet and came down the steps, but he did not neglect each step of the way to cast his eyes up and down the road to assure himself that Sam was alone.
"You have been doing something, that's what's the matter with you," said Sam.