I concurred at once; the plan was fascination itself. Adventure, liberty, novelty, enterprise, and a dash of danger to heighten all! Falkoner talked of dollars as if they macadamized the road to St. Louis; and I, glowing with punch and pride together, spoke of the expense as a mere trifle. To this hour, I cannot say whether I had really mystified myself into the notion that I possessed ample means, or was merely indulging the passing pleasure of a delightful vision. So was it, however; I smiled at the cheapness of everything, could scarcely fancy such a thing as a Mexican pony for eighty dollars, and laughed--actually laughed--at the price of the rifle, when all my worldly substance, at the moment, would not have purchased copper caps for it.
"Don't go too expensively to work, Cregan," cried he, "and, above all, bring no European servant. A Mexican fellow--or, better still, a half-breed--is the thing for the prairies. You have to forget your Old World habits, and rough it."
"So I can," said I, laughing good-humoredly; "I 'm in a capital mind for a bit of sharp work too. Just before I left the 90th, we made a forced march from St. John's through the forest country, and I feel up to anything."
"You'll not like the cattle at first, I'm afraid," said he. "They have that racking action the Yankees are fond of. There is a capital mare at Galveston, if we could get her. These fellows will snap her up, most likely."
"Butcher's mare," said I, hazarding a guess.
"Ah, you 've been looking after her already," said he, surprised. "Well, to tell you the truth, that was one of my objects in coming here to-night. I heard that some of these skipper fellows had got the winning ticket: I paid twenty dollars to the office-clerk to see the number, and determine to buy it up. Here it is. Can you read these figures? for, hang me if the punch, or the heat, or the dancing, has not made me quite dizzy."
"Let me see: Number 438," said I, repeating it a couple of times over.
"Yes, that is it. If I could have chanced on it, I 'd have run down to-morrow by the 'Christobal.' She lies about a mile out, and will weigh with the ebb, at eight o'clock. That mare--she killed Butcher by a down leap over a rock, but never scratched herself--is worth at least a thousand dollars."