“And we start at once?”

“Tomorrow.”

He paused.

“You’re a Westerner?”

“Born and raised in Leadville, Colorado,” I assured.

He seized upon the fact.

“Ah! Leadville! We couldn’t stop there?”

“Hardly.”

“But it was a busy camp, once, wasn’t it? A typical camp; a rendezvous, with dance halls, gambling dens, and men and women of all kinds gathered?”

“A boom camp, and wide open,” I said. “That was before my day, however.”