"And what did you profess?"
At this the camper rose to his feet, finding it uncomfortable to sit and look up at the tall, gaunt mountaineer. He replied testily that it wasn't anything to do with Rifle-Eye what chair he had held or in what college, and he'd trouble him to go about his business.
Rifle-Eye heard him patiently to the end, and then asked again, without any change of voice:
"And what did you profess?"
Once again the reputed educator expressed himself as to the Ranger's interference and declared that he had been more annoyed since coming into the forest than if he had stayed out of it. He worked himself up into a towering rage. Presently Rifle-Eye replied quietly:
"You refuse to tell?"
"I do," snapped the professor.
"Is it because you are ashamed of what you taught, or of where you taught it?" the Ranger asked.
This was touching the stranger in a tender place. He was proud of his college and of his hobby, and he retorted immediately:
"Ashamed? Certainly not. I was Professor of Social Economy in Blurtville University."