“No, sir; I simply come out ’ere once in a w’ile, you know, just as an accommodation to Mr. Winters.”
“You live in New York, I suppose?”
“No, sir; my ’ome is in London,” he replied, with an air that seemed to indicate he did not care for any further conversation.
“Blaisdell,” said Mr. Rivers, “I thought you said something some time ago, about dinner; if the ride in the mountain air has given the rest of these gentlemen such an appetite as it has me, we would like to see that dinner materialize before very long.”
On the way to the boarding house, Van Dorn managed to walk with Houston, and exclaimed in a low tone:
“Good heavens, Everard, what does this mean? What are you masquerading around in this style for?”
“Don’t ask me to explain now, there are too many around; after dinner we will go down by ourselves, and I’ll tell you the whole story. I may want a little advice from you, as you’re a mining expert yourself.”
“Don’t let any of these people out here know that,” Van Dorn answered quickly; “Mr. Winters has introduced me as an inventor of some mining machinery that they use, just out here looking around for the pleasure of it; you know I did invent an amalgamator that is being used to some extent; but I’m not supposed to know anything about practical mining.”
Houston laughed; “How about the Englishman?” he asked.
“He’s no fool,” said Van Dorn quickly, “though he is playing verdant; only comes out here to accommodate Mr. Winters, and so forth; that’s all right, but he accommodates Mr. Winters pretty often. He’s a fine expert and understands his business thoroughly, only I happen to be a little more familiar with the ores in this locality, as I spent a good many months out here in the mountains two years ago, experting mines; not in this camp of course, but only a few miles from here. Mr. Winters himself is sharp, and with Lindlay and myself out here, he’s not going to be very badly taken in.”