The employees and hostlers
of the hotel worshiped him. A single word of inquiry revealed to him
the fact that the buggy was NOT going on, but that Mr. Van Loo and
Mrs. Barker WERE--on two horses, a temporary side-saddle having been
constructed out of a mule's pack-tree. At which Mr. Hamlin, with his
usual audacity, walked into the bar-room, and going to the bar leaned
carelessly against it. Then turning to the lowering faces around him, he
said, with a flash of his white teeth, "Well, boys, I'm calculating to
leave the Divide in a few minutes to follow some friends in the buggy,
and it seems to me only the square thing to stand the liquor for the
crowd, without prejudice to any feeling or roughness there may be
against me. Everybody who knows me knows that I'm generally there when
the band plays, and I'm pretty sure to turn up for THAT sort of thing.
So you'll just consider that I've had a good game on the Divide, and
I'm reckoning it's only fair to leave a little of it behind me here,
to 'sweeten the pot' until I call again. I only ask you, gentlemen, to
drink success to my friends in the buggy as early and as often as you
can." He flung two gold pieces on the counter and paused, smiling.
He was right in his conjecture. Even the men who would have willingly
"held him up" a moment after, at the bidding of Steptoe, saw no reason
for declining a free drink "without prejudice.
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