"I think far ahead," replied the older man. "It is the custom of a
lifetime. To act on the moment is to continually regret. Do you think I
want my daughter's tears and reproaches for the rest of my life? No, I
wish to spend my old age free of women and their mischief. This Hanson
must talk, talk, talk. Therefore, if you give him rope enough he will
hang himself before any woman's eyes."

"But when?" asked Flick, and that vibration still lingered in his voice.
"I am not so patient as you, Gallito."

The Spaniard made no reply to this and silence fell between them for a
few minutes.

"Oh!" said Flick, as if suddenly remembering something, something in
which he was not particularly interested, but which would serve as a
topic of conversation during these tense moments of waiting; "Nitschkan
is up at Colina, and Mrs. Thomas."

"Nitschkan!" A faintly humorous smile crept from Gallito's mouth up to
his eyes.

He was genuinely interested if Flick was not. "What is she doing there?"

"She came up to look after those prospects of hers, nurse them along a
little, I guess, and to hunt and fish some, I guess, particularly hunt
and fish. She says she's going to take a bear-skin or so back with her."

"She sure will, if she says so," returned Gallito confidently.

"Of course, she got wise to José right away." Flick spoke rather