"Let me hear all about it, Master Tad," he said.
"Somebody's been filling the boy up with tenderfoot yarns," smiled the foreman.
Tad did not appear to heed the foreman's scoffing. Instead, he began in a low incisive voice the narration of his experiences of the previous night, beginning with the bear hunt and ending with his finding his way out of the forest that morning.
As he proceeded with the story, the lines on the face of the banker grew tense, his blue eyes appearing to fade to a misty gray.
At first indifferent, Larue soon pricked up his ears, then became intensely interested in the story.
"And that's about all I can think of to tell you," concluded Tad.
Ned uttered a low whistle of amazement.
"So you think this is a tenderfoot yarn, eh?" asked the banker, turning to his foreman.
"Not now," answered Larue. "I guess the boy did get it straight."
"Humph! You had no means of knowing—didn't hear what his name was, did you?"