“No,” he answered, “nothing much but second growth. How did you know that I was a forester?”
“Nothing very mysterious about that. Your green registration card is sticking out of your pocket. Well, here is where I leave you. So long.”
Scott found his new home and walked in with an independent air of ownership that sent a thrill through him. Johnson was waiting impatiently for him. As soon as Scott appeared in the door Johnson grabbed his hat and started out. “Hurry up, man. You’re late. These hash houses aren’t home. If you are late you get a short ration.”
Scott took a hasty scrub at his car-stained face and hands, and they hurried away to the boarding house. Most of the men were already seated when they arrived. Scott waited for an introduction to the landlady to inquire whether he could stay there, but Johnson jerked out the chair next to his, looked at him curiously, and ordered him to sit down.
“Don’t you have to see the landlady here?” Scott asked.
“Don’t worry,” Johnson laughed. “She’s probably spotting you now through a crack in the door, and you’ll see her pretty regularly every Saturday night at pay time.”
“Humph,” thought Scott, “I’d like to see anyone get into a boarding-house around home without giving his whole pedigree and paying a week’s board in advance.” He added aloud to Johnson, “I should think a good many fellows would skip their board.”
“No,” said Johnson, “there are not many fellows here who try it and most of them get caught.”
When the rush of passing dishes was over Scott had a chance to look around the table. He was surprised to see what a husky, sunburned, independent looking crowd it was. Two of them, especially, seemed to be almost an Indian red, and directed the conversation with peculiar abandon. He was agreeably surprised to see that one of them was the Hawaiian who had walked down the street with him a few minutes before. He caught Scott’s eye and smiled pleasantly.
Johnson caught the salutation and looked at Scott with an air of surprise and added respect. “I did not know that you knew him,” he said in an undertone, but his remarks were cut short by a peremptory command from another sunburned face at the end of the table.