You ought to climb on the
water-wagon, Ford, and that's a fact. Whisky's the worst enemy you've
got."
"Sure. And I'm going to punish all of it I can get my hands on!" He
turned toward the door. "And when I'm good and full of it," he added as
an afterthought, "I'm liable to come over here and lick you, Lew, just
for being such an agreeable cuss. You better leave your mother's address
handy." He laughed a little to himself as he pulled the door shut behind
him. "I bet he'll keep the frost thawed off the window to-day, just to
see who comes up the platform," he chuckled.
He would have been more amused if he had seen how the agent ducked
anxiously forward to peer through the ticket window whenever the door of
the waiting room opened, and how he started whenever the snow outside
creaked under the tread of a heavy step; and he would have been
convulsed with mirth if he had caught sight of the formidable billet of
wood which Lew kept beside his chair all that day, and had guessed its
purpose, and that it was a mute witness to the reputation which one Ford
Campbell bore among his fellows. Lew was too wise to consider for a
moment the revolver meant to protect the contents of the safe.
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