"But there won't be any royalty then."
"That's right; that's right," and a thoughtful look came into the man's eye. "I was promised a job—I wonder what kind of a job I can get? I really had made up my mind to hold out for a job collecting. It must be an all-fired good job if a fellow reckons on the dust these fellows who hold it now blow in on the girls and wine. One year would be enough for me: I'd save, and quit the country."
"Are you quite sure you'd save?"
"Sure thing, I'm sure—at least I think I'm sure."
"Now don't you think if you were given the job of collecting royalty, that you might feel tempted to go to a restaurant, order a steak with chechacho potatoes,[12] and buy a bottle of wine to round things off?"
[12] Fresh potatoes as distinguished from evaporated potatoes.
The man gazed into vacancy a bit, and then looked Hope in the eye, and slapped his knee, as he said,
"Do you know, partner, I think I might—if I get any boodle out of this thing that's coming off, I think I will. Beefsteak! Beefsteak and onions!—and chechacho potatoes! Gosh! what a lay-out of them I could eat right now. Beans—beans—bacon and beans—and then beans and bacon! What a hell of a lot a fellow misses in this here country!"
"Yes, but I'm afraid we will not be able to take our appetites with us."
"Say! I wonder what John D. Rockefeller would give for my appetite and my stomach! Say! I bet he'd give a million cold cash. I bet he'd give a million and a half—enough to buy the best claim on Eldorado."