She added in a moment as she stirred her pudding:  “Something ought to be done for Bim to get her free.”

“We’re going to see about that,” Samson assured her.

“Harry had better look out,” said Mrs. Brimstead.

“Abe is going to get a divorce for her an’ I guess from now on the grass won’t have a chance to grow under Harry’s feet.  The boy has worried a good deal lately.  Wouldn’t wonder if he’d heard o’ those rich fellers but he hasn’t let on about it.”

Abe Lincoln and Harry entered with their host and the travelers sat down to a luncheon of pudding and milk and doughnuts and pie.

“There’s no El Dorado about this,” said Samson.  “Women have to have something more than hopes to work with.”

“The women in this country have to do all their dreaming at night,” said Mrs. Brimstead.

“El Dorado will not stay long,” Samson averred.

“It wouldn’t cost much to shoo it off your land,” Abe laughed.

“You can’t either shoo or shoot it,” said Brimstead.

“I look for it just to take the rickets an’ die,” was the comment of his wife.

“How far do you call it to the sycamore woods?” Lincoln asked as they rose from the table.

“About thirty mile,” said Brimstead.

“We must be off if we are to get there before dark,” the young statesman declared.

They saddled their horses and mounted and rode up to the door.  After their acknowledgments and farewells Brimstead came close to Samson and said in confidence:  “I enjoy bein’ a millionaire for a few minutes now an’ then.  It’s as good as goin’ to a circus an’ cheaper.”

“The feelings of a millionaire are almost as good as the money while they last,” said Abe Lincoln with a laugh.

Brimstead came up to him and whispered:  “They’re better ’cause if you can keep away from Samson Traylor you don’t have any fear o’ bein’ robbed.”

“It reminds me o’ the time I used to play I was a horse,” said Samson as they rode away.  In a moment he added:  “Abe, the state is getting in a bad way.”

“It looks as if you were right,” said the member from Sangamon County.  “It’s a bad sign to find men like Peasley and Brimstead going crazy.”

Up the road they passed many farms unsown and staked into streets and avenues.  The hand of industry had been checked by dreams of wealth.

“The land that once laughed with fatness now has a lean and solemn look,” Abe admitted.  “But I reckon you’ll find that kind of thing going on all over the country-east and west.”

“It reminds me of those fellers that danced on the table an’ smashed the dishes at the banquet,” said Samson.

“They had the same kind o’ feelin’s that Brimstead has,” said the legislator.  “I wish we had had you in the House.”

“They would have thrown me out of a window.”

“I wouldn’t wonder but I reckon the time is near when they would urge you to come in at the door.  You’ve got more good sense than all of us put together.  I’ve heard you accuse me of growing but your own growth has astonished me.”