the folks near the railroad were all in a stew about the remains of
Bates's partner, the poppa of the young lady. His remains, having come
there for burial, and not appearing to like the idea, had taken the
liberty of stepping out on the edge of the evening, and hooking it. So
said I, 'What if that young lady was real enterprising! what if she got
the waggoner to put her poppa under the soil of the forest, and rode on
herself, grand as you please, in his burial casket!' (That poor waggoner
drank himself to death of remorse, but that was nothing to her.) The
circumstances were confusing, and the accounts given by different folks
were confusing, and, what's more, 'tisn't easy to believe in a sweet
girl having her poppa buried quite secret; most young ladies is too
delicate. Still, after a bit, the opinion I've mentioned did become my
view of the situation; and I said to myself 'Cyril, good dog; here's
your vocation quite handy. Find the young lady, find her, good fellow!
Ingratiate yourself in her eyes, and you've got, not only an asbestos
mine, but a wife of such smartness and enterprise as rarely falls to the
lot of a rising young man.' I didn't blame her one bit for the part she
had taken, for I'd seen the beast she'd have had to live with. No doubt
her action was the properest she could take. And I thought if I came on
her panting, flying, and offered her my protection, she'd fall down and
adore me. So, to make a long tale short, I stopped a bit in that
locality, hunting for her quite private after every one else had given
up hunting. I heard of a daft old man who'd got about, the Lord only
knows how, and I set the folks firmly believing that he was old Cameron.
Well, _if_ he was, then the girl was lost and dead; but if he
_wasn't_--well, I twigged it she'd got on the railroad, and, by being
real pleasant to all the car men, I found out, quite by the way and
private, how she might have got on, and where any girl had got off, till
by patience and perseverance I got on your track; and I've been eight
months trying to fathom your deepness and win your affections. The more