“As we journey through life, let us live by the way,
And our pilgrimage gladden with feasting, not fasting;
Let us banish dull care, and keep sorrow at bay,
For our days are all numbered, and life is not lasting.”
His plans were not yet fully matured, and consequently he was not ready for Guy’s awakening.
CHAPTER XXVI.
GUY RECEIVES A PROPOSITION.
THE shipping clerk and commercial traveler walked out of the store arm-in-arm, and bent their steps toward a billiard saloon. Mr. Jones talked incessantly. The sober face Guy wore, and the words he had let fall a while ago, were small things in themselves, but much too important to be disregarded, for they were signs of the awakening which was sure to come, but which Mr. Jones, for reasons of his own, wished to postpone for a day or two longer. So he tried to keep up Guy’s spirits, and believing that a little assistance might not come amiss, led him into Dutch Jake’s saloon, where they had a glass of beer and a cigar apiece, Jones paying for one and Guy treating to the other.
“Chalk it, Jake,” said Guy, as he walked around the end of the counter for a match to light his cigar.