“Well,” Scott said, “I hope he likes me because it looks as though I won’t have very many friends around here.”
“You sure will not,” the agent remarked with decision. “You can make friends with half the people easy enough, but sure as you do the other half will hate you. If you don’t take up with either side, as you are planning on doing, likely as not they will all hate you.”
Scott sat for a moment dreamy eyed, considering this disagreeable dilemma. When he looked up Hopwood was standing in the doorway, calmly looking at him over the agent’s head. For a moment Scott was too astonished to speak. He wondered if Hopwood had been outside listening, and he thought of what the agent had said about this strange man being a spirit.
“Hello, Hopwood!” he exclaimed, and the agent almost jumped out of his chair.
Hopwood smiled an answer. “Is that red-headed man who came on the train yesterday your boss?” he asked, as though they had been talking for some time.
“Yes,” Scott admitted, “he is, in a way.”
“Well, he’s joined the Waits,” Hopwood remarked.
The announcement almost stunned Scott. He stared wildly at Hopwood for an instant and then at the agent. “What makes you think so?” he asked dully.
There was no answer, and he found Hopwood had disappeared as suddenly as he had come.
The agent tiptoed to the door and looked cautiously up and down the porch. Hopwood was nowhere to be seen. He looked back at Scott and shook his head. “Gone completely. Well, whether he is man or devil, I reckon he is a friend of yours all right.”