“Yes, I’m doing first class in business with dad,” announced Phil. “We are going to buy an interest in another line of ships, and dad says that in another year he will put me at the head of our New York offices. Then I’ll be a little nearer to Crumville than I was before.”
“I’m glad to hear of your success, Phil,” said Dave. “I don’t know of any fellow who deserves it more than you do.”
“Sometimes I wish I had taken up civil engineering, just to be near you and Roger,” went on the ship-owner’s son wistfully. “But then, I reckon I wasn’t cut out for that sort of thing. I love the work I am at very much.”
“I suppose some day, Phil, you’ll be settling down with Belle Endicott,” went on our hero in a low tone of voice, so that the others could not hear.
“I don’t know about that, Dave,” was the thoughtful answer. “Belle is a splendid girl, and I know she thinks a good deal of me. But her father is a very rich man, and she has a host of young fellows tagging after her. There is one man out in Denver, who is almost old enough to be her father, who has asked Mr. Endicott for her hand in marriage.”
“But Belle doesn’t want him, does she?”
“I don’t think so. But she teases me about him a good deal, and I must confess I don’t like it. That’s one reason why I am going out to Star Ranch.”
“Well, you fix it up, Phil—I know you can do it,” answered Dave emphatically. “You know Jessie and Laura are writing to Belle continually; and I know for a fact that Belle thinks more of you than she does of anybody else.”
“I hope what you say is true, Dave,” answered the ship-owner’s son wistfully.
Naturally a bright and energetic youth with no hesitation when it came to business matters, Phil was woefully shy now that matters between himself and the girl at Star Ranch had reached a crisis.