"Pete's going—next Tuesday—and just to set your mind at rest and give you a chance to eat your supper"—Bill had been doing scarcely anything else since he sat down—"Pete has a right good reason to go."
"Kin I have another cup of coffee?" queried Bill.
"Sakes alive, yes! I reckon that's what's ailing you."
"I only had three, Ma."
"Pete is going away on business," asserted Ma Bailey.
"Huh," snorted Andy.
Bailey glanced at his wife, who telegraphed to him to change the subject. And that good man, who had been married twenty-five years, changed the subject immediately.
But Andy did not let it drop. After supper he cornered Pete in the bunk-house, and following some wordy fencing, ascertained that Pete was going to Tucson for the winter to get an education. Pete blushingly admitted that that was his sole intent, swore Andy to secrecy, and told him that he had discussed the subject with Ma Bailey, who had advised him to go.
"So you're quittin' the game," mourned Andy.
"Nope, jest beginnin'."