some outlandish place to look for buried treasure, that he'd sail on her
if his money held out."

"If he only wanted to steady down, I'd give him a job drivin' the wagon,"
her husband said, but with no trace of benevolence in his voice. "Tom's
quit."

His wife looked alarm and interrogation.

"Quit to-night. Is goin' to work for Carruthers. They paid 'm more'n I
could afford."

"I told you you'd lose 'm," she cried out. "He was worth more'n you was
giving him."

"Now look here, old woman," Higginbotham bullied, "for the thousandth
time I've told you to keep your nose out of the business. I won't tell
you again."

"I don't care," she sniffled. "Tom was a good boy." Her husband glared
at her. This was unqualified defiance.

"If that brother of yours was worth his salt, he could take the wagon,"
he snorted.

"He pays his board, just the same," was the retort. "An' he's my
brother, an' so long as he don't owe you money you've got no right to be
jumping on him all the time. I've got some feelings, if I have been
married to you for seven years."