“So I have, Jack. But the trouble is, while Billings is a first-class mining operator, he is rather deficient in education and knows little about the legal aspects of affairs. On the other hand, Garrish was at one time a lawyer and evidently knows the mining game from a legal standpoint in all its details. For all I know, when it came to legal matters he might be able to twist Billings around his finger.”
“Perhaps it would have been a good thing, Dad, if you had brought a lawyer along,” suggested Randy.
“Before I left Chicago I had an interview with a lawyer who is affiliated with our attorneys in New York. I arranged matters with him so that if he is needed he’ll come on immediately to represent me.”
As the boys had traveled westward before, the trip was no great novelty. Yet there were many interesting sights along the way, and they did not tire of looking out of the windows or of spending hour after hour on the observation platform of the last car.
“These open spaces are what get me,” declared Randy, stretching out his arm in a semicircle. “Just look at the thousands and thousands of acres of land that seem to be going to waste!”
“Yes, and then think of the thousands and thousands of people who are huddling in the tenements of all of the big cities,” returned Jack. “It seems all wrong, doesn’t it?”
“Well, I suppose a lot of those people want companionship,” came from Fred. “And they wouldn’t get much of it if they were spread all around this scenery.”
“I don’t believe I’ll ever want to settle down in the heart of a big city,” said Andy thoughtfully. “Where we live isn’t so bad. We’ve got plenty of air and a nice view of the Hudson River. But, just the same, I’d rather rove around the open places. When I get down in one of those narrow streets in lower New York, with the monstrous buildings on both sides, I always feel shut in, just as if the whole thing was going to tumble down on top of me.”
“You’d rather have a bungalow on the top of Pike’s Peak, wouldn’t you, Andy?” laughed Jack.
“Perhaps. Although I think I’d prefer a bird’s nest on the top of the north pole,” answered the fun-loving boy, with a grin.