"There you are," said he; "that's near enough. I'm a pretty good guesser. I hope you took care of the mules all right; you ought to, you're from a farm."
"And the mud? How many times did you get stuck?"
"Would you think of that, now!" said he. "You must have loaded her light."
"Well, I'll acknowledge you're a judgematical young man; and if you want a job with me I'll let that lawyer go I spoke to the judge about. He handed it to me then, didn't he?" He laughed heartily. "No? Well, you're right. A man's a fool to work for any one but himself. Where's your bag? Haven't any? How do you carry your dust? Haven't any? I forgot; you're a tenderfoot, of course." He opened his buckskin sack with his teeth, and poured back the gold from the palm of his hand. Then he searched for a moment in all his pockets, and produced a most peculiar chunk of gold metal. It was nearly as thick as it was wide, shaped roughly into an octagon, and stamped with initials. This he handed to me.
"It's about a fifty-dollar slug," said he, "you can get it weighed. Give me the change next time you see me."
"But I may leave for the mines to-morrow," I objected.
"Then leave the change with Jim Recket of the El Dorado."
"How do you know I'll leave it?" I asked curiously.
"I don't," replied McGlynn bluntly. "But if you need twenty-five dollars worse than you do a decent conscience, then John A. McGlynn isn't the man to deny you!"
"I didn't know you expected any mail," said I.
"Oh, yes. When I saw the mail sacks, it struck me that there might be quite a crowd; so I came up as quickly as I could and got in line. There were a number before me, but I got a place pretty well up in front. Sold the place for five dollars, and only had to stand there about an hour at that."
"Good head!" I admired. "I'd never have thought of it. How have you gotten on?"
"Pretty rotten," confessed Johnny. "I tried all morning to find a decent opportunity to do something or deal in something, and then I got mad and plunged in for odd jobs. I've been a regular errand boy. I made two dollars carrying a man's bag up from the ship."
"Fifteen. I suppose you've got your pile."
"That twenty-five you saw me get is the size of it."
Johnny brightened; we moved up closer in a new intimacy and sense of comradeship over delinquency. It relieved both to feel that the other, too, had failed. To enter the Plaza we had to pass one of the larger of the gambling places.