'Wonderful!' say you. 'Not at all,'
say I, since I have found but what I sought after, for, as has been
said--'adventures are to the adventurous.' Therefore, within the
next few hours, I confidently expect other, and perchance weightier,
happenings to overtake me because--I intend them to. So much for
myself.
Now, as for you and Natty Bell, it is with deep affection that I
think of you--an affection that shall abide with me always. Also,
you are both in my thoughts continually. I remember our bouts with
the 'muffles,' and my wild gallops on unbroken horses with Natty Bell;
surely he knows a horse better than any, and is a better rider than
boxer, if that could well be. Indeed, I am fortunate in having
studied under two such masters.
Furthermore, I pray you to consider that this absence of mine will
only draw us closer together, in a sense. Indeed, now, when I think
of you both, I am half-minded to give up this project and come back
to you. But my destiny commands me, and destiny must be obeyed.
Therefore I shall persist unto the end; but whether I succeed or no,
remember, I pray of you, that I am always,
Your lover and friend,
Barnabas.
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