Reaching the end of the walk, David looked over the intakes of the fuel and water lines, which entered there. Everything was in perfect shape. He went back, and looked into the baggage room and then into the storage rooms for the cartridge-like cases of fuel gas.
Then he went down to Red’s cabin. Red was writing postcards, aided and abetted by the kitten.
“Hello, fella!” he cried. “Come up to see me cat? Ain’t he a beaut? You can tell he’s a cat at first glance, small as he is. Now a pup at that age might turn into anything between a dachshund and a Great Dane. Those seem to be the most popular breeds in this country. But a cat—well, a cat’s a regular cat from its first breath. Just a soft bundle of mews, and scratches, and devilment.
“Did Miss Hammond tell you, now, about how those little German bands gave her a menagerie? She farmed ’em all out on us. I think she’s partial to me, Dave, because she gave me the kitten. I suggested lettin’ Wally take care of the bit of a monkey, but she said she wouldn’t ‘trust to his finer feelings’. She didn’t make it clear whose she meant; just twinkled those devastatin’ eyes at me, and walked off, leavin’ me with this bit of fur. I’ve named him Trouble. He cries in a loud voice when I leave him, and I daren’t let him out for a second. Imagine those claws sprinting up a gas bag. So I spend most of my idle moments here, just to hearten him. But if you want fun, go see the crew and their share of the menagerie.”
“Well, Mr. Hammond will inspect around here some fine day, and then we will be in wrong,” warned David.
“Not a bit! Just the first roar, and Miss Dulcie will slip up the way she does, and she will say, ‘Why, they are mine, daddy, and these nice men are keeping them for me,’ and I’ll bet we will each get a medal.”
“Likely to be that way,” said David, laughing. “Do you see much of Cram lately?”
“Not so much. He sort of keeps to himself. I cross his path every little while. Gosh, Davie, the truth is I’m tryin’ to keep from giving him a sock.” Red sighed. “He’s my one bad dream.”
“I don’t see why you take him so hard,” said David. “You sound as though he had grabbed off your best girl.”
“Oh, of course he did that,” admitted Red easily. “With their first oil well. But that’s nothing. I always manage to have a few spares. It’s nothing like that. He did other things. Well, I won’t hit him unless he harms you, David, really tries to do you dirt. It’s the nasty way he has of sayin’ things that makes him dangerous. Not so much the things he says, but the way he says ’em.” Red shrugged his shoulders as though to rid himself of an unpleasant subject. “Say, how’s your little gadget comin’ on these days?”