I can't think--all's in my heart.

24  

"Over twenty years, old pardner,

We have been companions true;

You have always kept your end up

In the hardships we've gone through.

If we'd stayed, and I had never

Seen her face or touched her hand,

We should still have been contented,

On our little piece of land.

This strange spell won't let me falter,

Though the chasing never ends;

Seems that nothing ever'll stop it,

Sickness, death, or loss of friends.

Where this love will drive a fellow,

I ain't wise enough to tell;

Sometimes think it leads to heaven

By a trail that runs through hell."

25  

Weeks thereafter, plodding northward

 Prev. P 47/103 next