"Can't I lend you enough money to pay for a lodging?" he asked.
"You kin, but you needn't. Jake Bradley ain't that delicate that
it'll hurt him to sleep out. No, Ben, save your money, and ef I
actilly need it I'll make bold to ask you for it; but I don't throw
away no money on a bed."
"If you hadn't lost your money in there," said Ben, pointing to the
building they had just left, "wouldn't you have paid for a bed?"
"I might have put on a little style then, I allow. It don't do for a
man with a thousand dollars in his belt to lie out. I ain't afraid
now."
Ben, on leaving his new acquaintance, thought it best to go back at
once to Miss Sinclair, to communicate the information he had
obtained, rightly deeming it of importance.
"Well, Ben, have you seen the whole town so soon?" asked Miss
Sinclair, looking up from her trunk, which she was unpacking.
"No, Cousin Ida, but I think I have learned something of Mr. Dewey."
"You have not seen him?" asked Miss Sinclair quickly.
"No, I have not seen him, but I have seen a man who met him nearly a
year since at the mines."
"Tell me about it, Ben," said the young lady. "Where was it that
this man saw Richard-Mr.
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