" but he got off a lot of first-class things all the 

 same some of the best things ever said." 



" I da' say ; they mostly can. But a man as sets 

 down and blames his luck is no good anyhow. He's 

 got no sand, and got no sense, and got no honesty ! 

 It ain't the time's wrong : it's the man ! It ain't 

 the job's too big : it's the man's too little ! " 



" You don't believe in luck at all, Rocky ? " I 

 ventured to put in. 



" I don't say thar's no such thing as luck good 

 and bad ; but it ain't the explanation o' success an' 

 failure not by a long way. No, sirree, luck's just 

 the thing any man'd like ter believe is the reason for 

 his failure and another feller's success. But it ain't 

 so. When another man pulls off what you don't, 

 the first thing you got ter believe is it's your own 

 fault ; and the last, it's his luck. And you jus' got 

 ter wade in an' find out whar you went wrong, an' 

 put it right, 'thout any excuses an' explanations." 



" But, Rocky, explanations aren't always excuses, 

 and sometimes you really have to give them ! " 



" Sonny, you kin reckon it dead sure thar's some- 

 thing wrong 'bout a thing that don't explain itself ; 

 an' one explanation's as bad as two mistakes it don't 

 fool anybody worth speaking of, 'cept yerself. You 

 find the remedy ; you can leave other folks put up 

 the excuses." 



I was beaten. It was no use going on, for I knew he 

 was right. I suppose the other fellows also knew whom 

 he was getting at, but they said nothing ; and 

 -_ the subject seemed to have dropped, when Rocky, 



26 



