face, and the whole figure of the man, shrunken by reading, seemed slowly expanding, thawing themselves at some genial glow. "In the first place, it is not my business. In the second place, I have no interest in it, except, I confess, what you've given me." Again his eye went over Carron's physical magnificence. "I own I wouldn't mind to see you astride of the finest horse in America, or—pardon me—did you say the world? Unfortunately I can't."
The half interrogatory, half propitiatory look with which he punctuated his negatives took away all the sting. But the negative, nevertheless, was there.
"Couldn't you," Carron urged, "tell me the name of this person who seems to hold a property right on a wild animal?"
"As the fellow on the road told you?" Rader inquired.
Carron, with a reluctant smile, had to admit the scholar's acuteness.
"But don't you think," he argued, "that you ought to give your friend the chance of refusing my offer himself, or accepting it if he wants to?"
Rader shook, and his eyes flashed a thousand twinkles. "That is a pretty keen argument, my boy,
but it seems to me you're taking a deal for granted!"
45
