there, except if
once in a lifetime you want to catch a train. Yes, and there's the
factory, that's speeding up the folks."

"Miss it?" his companion asked.

"The way we do things, you mean? No, sir! I wouldn't go back, except for
a vacation, not if you gave me a present of Casper County on a golden
tray. I like it here; it's a race."

Dick spoke with emphasis and then took a great mouthful of food that
required his full attention.

"Country boys are apt to feel that way." Mr. Talbert looked gravely at
the young man before him. "The city would never grow as it does if it
wasn't fed by country stock, strong young fellows who have worked out of
doors and laid up energy to be exhausted later within the great
buildings down town."

"I can't say as I ever did much work." The young Georgian grinned as he
recalled his boyhood. "But I played a heap and made enough trouble for
the neighbors to win me a gilt-edged certificate in cussedness. Business
is a sort of play, I reckon, and the biggest daredevil comes out ahead."

"It means taking risks."

"Do you think," Dick asked, his cheeks flushing as though he expected to
be guyed for his question, "that a fellow can come to New York any more
without a penny and end a millionaire?"

"They're still doing it." The business man eyed his guest with
evident interest. "But the number gets smaller all the time. It's
a little like telling every boy that he can become president, this
poor-man-to-millionaire business; nevertheless," looking intently at his
listener, "it can be done."

"Honest Injun?" The joviality left Dick's face, though he tried to put
it in his voice. His thin mouth was tightly drawn and the hard lines
were accentuated about his deep blue eyes.

"Honest Injun." Mr. Talbert was amused again. "But don't forget the
secret. Always look out for yourself. Don't think about the other
fellow, for if he's a good business man you can count on it he isn't
thinking about you."

"Listen!" Dick leaned forward. "I'm meaning what I say. I've got to get
rich. It ain't for myself; it's for a girl, a girl that ought to have
the best of everything in New York."

For the first time during the meal he spoke in a low voice, but with an
intensity that drove the smile from his companion's face. With elbows on
the table, his head resting on his hands, he looked into the older man's
eyes as though he hoped by searching long enough to learn the secret of
success that he saw about him