For what has one
man more than another that he should put himself in the place of
Providence? We are all of flesh. True, some of us are only dog's flesh,
fit for nothing; but to all of us the lash is painful, and where it
rains blood will sprout. This, I say; but, remember, I say not that
Manuel the Fox robbed me--for I would sully no man's reputation, even
a robber's, or have anyone suffer on my account.
"Well, sirs, to go back to what I was saying, Manuel lost everything;
then his wife fell ill with fever; and what was there left for him but
to turn his horses into money? In this way it came about that I bought
the cream-noses and paid him fifty dollars for them. True, the horses
were young and sound; nevertheless, it was a great price, and I paid
it not without first weighing the matter well in my own mind. For in
things of this nature if a person makes not his reckoning beforehand,
where, let me ask, sirs, will he find himself at the year's end? The
devil will take him with all the cattle he inherited from his fathers,
or got together by his own proper abilities and industry.
"For you see the thing is this. I have a poor head for figures; all
other kinds of knowledge come easy to me, but how to calculate readily
has never yet found an entrance into my head. At the same time, whenever
I find it impossible to make out my accounts, or settle what to do,
I have only to take the matter to bed with me and lie awake thinking
it over.
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