turned Bucks, "you must be mistaken. The man that town
was named after belonged to the fighting McClouds."

"That is my family."

"Then where is your fight? When I propose to put you into my car and
pull you out of this, why do you say it is too late? It is never too
late."

McCloud made no answer, and Bucks ran on: "For a man that worked out
as well as you did yesterday in a trial heat with a billiard-cue, I
should say you could turn a handspring or two yet if you had to. For
that matter, if you don't want to be moved, I can run a spur in here
to your door in three hours in the morning. By taking out the
side-wall we can back the car right up to the bed. Why not? Or we can
stick a few hydraulic jacks under the sills, raise the house, and push
your bed right on the observation platform." He got McCloud to
laughing, and lighted a fresh cigar. A framed photograph hung on one
of the bare walls of the room, and it caught the eye of the railroad
man. He walked close to it, disinfected it with smoke, brushed the
dust from the glass, and examined the print. "That looks like old Van
Dyne College campus, hanged if it doesn't!"

McCloud was watching him. "It is a photograph of the campus."

"McCloud, are you a Van Dyne man?"

"I did my college work there before I went to Boston."

Bucks stood motionless. "Poor little old Van Dyne! Why, my brother Sam
taught at Van Dyne. No, you would not have known him; he's dead. Never
before west of the Missouri River have I seen a Van Dyne man. You are
the first." He shook his head as he sat down again. "It is crowded out
now: no money, no prestige, half-starved professors with their elbows
out, the president working like a dog all the week and preaching
somewhere every Sunday to earn five dollars. But, by Heaven, they
turned out men! Did you know Bug Robinson?" he asked suddenly.

"He gave me my degree."

"Old Bug! He was Sam's closest friend, McCloud. It's good to see him
getting the recognition he deserves, isn't it? Do you know, I send him
an annual every year? Yes, sir! And one year I had the whole blooming
faculty out here on a fossil expedition; but, by Heaven, McCloud, some
of them looked more like megatheriums than what they dug up did."

"I heard about that expedition."

"I never got to college. I had to hustle. I'll get out of here before
I tire you. Wilcox will be here all night, and my China boy is making
some broth for you now. You'll feel better in the morning."