"Possibly."
"Then I reckon it's a fair trade. Ye see, I told 'em I was a
Californian from Solano, and hadn't anything about me of
greenbacks. I had three slugs with me. Ye remember them slugs?"
(I did; the "slug" was a "token" issued in the early days--a
hexagonal piece of gold a little over twice the size of a twenty-
dollar gold piece--worth and accepted for fifty dollars.)
"Well, I handed them that, and they handed me the watch. You see
them slugs I had made myself outer brass filings and iron pyrites,
and used to slap 'em down on the boys for a bluff in a game of draw
poker. You see, not being reg'lar gov-ment money, it wasn't
counterfeiting. I reckon they cost me, counting time and anxiety,
about fifteen dollars. So, if this yer watch is worth that, it's
about a square game, ain't it?"
I began to understand the Man from Solano, and said it was. He
returned his watch to his pocket, toyed playfully with the chain,
and remarked, "Kinder makes a man look fash'nable and wealthy,
don't it?"
I agreed with him. "But what do you intend to do here?" I asked.
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