Coz looked like he'd been kicked in the belly, he was so stunned and forlorn. "Do you think I did, Abe? I got to admit, I have no memory of what I did last night."

Then he reached up and touched his head. "I must have slept my way clear past the hangover."

"You don't look too steady," said Abe. "Maybe you don't have a hangover cause you're still drunk."

"I am a little wobbly," said Coz. "Tell me, the three of you, am I talking slurry? Do I sound drunk?"

Alvin shrugged. "Maybe you sound like a man as just woke up."

"Kind of a frog in your throat," said Arthur Stuart.

"I've seen you drunker," said Abe.

"Oh, I'm never gonna live down the shame of this, Abe," said Coz. "You warned me not to go off with her. And whether she robbed me or somebody else did or I spent it all or I clean lost it from being so stupid drunk, I'm going home empty-handed and Ma'll kill me, she'll just ream me out a new ear, she'll cuss me up so bad."

"Oh, Coz, you know I won't leave you in such a bad way," said Abe.

"Won't you? You mean it? You'll give me a share of your half?"

"Enough to be respectable," said Abe. "We'll just say you ... invested the rest of it, on speculation, kind of, but it went bad. They'll believe that, right? That's better than getting robbed or spending it on likker."

"Oh, it is, Abe. You're a saint. You're my best friend. And you won't have to lie for me, Abe. I know you hate to lie, so you just tell folks to ask me and I'll do all the lyin'."

Abe reached into his pocket and took out Coz's own wallet and handed it to him. "You just take from that wallet as much as you think you'll need to make your story stick."

Coz started counting out the twenty-dollar gold pieces, but it only took a few before his conscience started getting to him. "Every coin I take is taken from you, Abe. I can't do this. You decide how much you can spare for me."