Don’t you know that no Indians ever shave? They pull out their whiskers instead.’
“‘Well,’ says I, ‘that’s just what these razors would do for ’em—they wouldn’t have any kick coming if they used ’em once.’
“Shane went away, and I could hear him laughing a block, if there had been any block.
“‘Tell ’em,’ says I to McClintock, ‘it ain’t money I want—tell ’em I’ll take gold-dust. Tell ’em I’ll allow ’em sixteen dollars an ounce for it in trade. That’s what I’m out for—the dust.’
“Mac interprets, and you’d have thought a squadron of cops had charged the crowd to disperse it. Every uncle’s nephew and aunt’s niece of ’em faded away inside of two minutes.
“At the royal palace that night me and the King talked it over.
“‘They’ve got the dust hid out somewhere,’ says I, ‘or they wouldn’t have been so sensitive about it.’
“‘They haven’t,’ says Shane. ‘What’s this gag you’ve got about gold? You been reading Edward Allen Poe? They ain’t got any gold.’
“‘They put it in quills,’ says I, ‘and then they empty it in jars, and then into sacks of twenty-five pounds each. I got it straight.’
