"I suppose you still have a disinterested anxiety to have me adopt the Sage City and Salt Pool route?" he laughed.
"I'm still anxious about it," amended Johnny, refusing to smile at his own evasion of the disinterestedness. "I brought you a wad of reports and things to show you how good that territory is. You don't know what a rich pay-streak you'd open up in that part of the Sancho Hills Basin."
Mr. Boise laughed with keen enjoyment.
"I don't think I need to wade through that stuff, Johnny," he admitted, having picked up from Courtney the habit of calling young Gamble by his first name. "To tell you the truth, I sent a wireless telegram to my chief engineer yesterday afternoon, off Courtney's yacht when we connected with the Taft, and this morning I have a five-hundred-word night lettergram from him, telling me that after a thorough investigation of the situation he finds that the Sage City and the Lariat Center routes are so evenly balanced in advantage that a choice of them is really only a matter of sentiment."
Johnny paused awkwardly, stumped for the first time in his life.
"I don't know how to make that kind of an argument," he confessed, to the great enjoyment of Boise.
"It is rather difficult," admitted that solidly constructed railroad president; "particularly since I personally favor the Lariat Center route."
Johnny again felt very awkward.
"Can't we put this on some sort of a business basis?" he implored.
"I don't think so," returned Mr. Boise with a cheerful smile. "You probably couldn't influence me in the least; but that charming young lady who was with you yesterday afternoon—your sister or something, I believe, wasn't it—she might."