Читать книгу Hard-Pan. A Story of Bonanza Fortunes онлайн

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“Nothing is farther from my mind,” said Gault; for the old man’s look demanded an answer.

“For an old-timer like me, privations, misfortunes, poverty, don’t matter. We pioneers who came round the isthmus and across the plains aren’t afraid of a little more roughing it to finish up on. A day without dinner don’t frighten us, and we don’t put our fingers in our mouths and cry because we haven’t got sheets to our beds or fires in our stoves. But when you’ve women in your corral it’s different—especially women that haven’t always seen the rough side of things.”

“Of course it makes a difference,” the other said, to fill up the colonel’s second and more persistent pause.

“Well, that’s how it is with me. If it was only myself I’d not think twice of it. But I have to consider my daughter. It’s not the same with her. During her childhood she had every luxury, but lately I’ve not been able to give her all that I’d like to, though, of course, she’s never really suffered. And just now my affairs are in such a devil of a tangle that—well, I was going to ask you if you could oblige me with a temporary loan—just a trifle to tide us over this spell of bad weather—say fifty dollars.”