"Is that so. Going on a pleasure trip, or to try your luck? Or perhaps you are on business?"
"Yes, I am on business."
"You are rather young to be out on business, it strikes me," went on the burly stranger, after a pause.
"Oh, I've been around a little before," said Tom coolly.
"Yes, you look like a lad who has seen some thing of the world.
Well, I've seen something of the world myself."
"Are you a Western man?" asked Tom, who thought it would not hurt to do a little questioning on his own account.
"Yes, I was born and brought up in Colorado."
The reply interested Tom.
"But you have traveled, you say?"
"Yes, I've been to San Francisco and to New York, and also up in the mining districts of the Northwest Territory, and in the mines of Mexico. I've been what they call a rolling stone." And the burly man laughed lightly, but the laugh was not a pleasant one.