“Yes, I do. Nice girls. Pretty, too. But well, you see, they’re not the same colour as me.”

“Just the same, they are crazy about you.”

“Nonsense!”

“Yes, they are. Call you ‘Gold-piece.’ Us fellows got no chance if you want them.”

“Tell me about the stories you read, Tole.”

Tole refused to be diverted from his subject. “Stonor, I think you would like to be real crazy about a woman.”

“Maybe,” said the other dreamily. “Perhaps life would seem less empty then.”

“Would you go bury yourself among the Indians for a woman?”

“I hardly think so,” said Stonor, smiling. “Though you never can tell what you might do. But if I got turned down, I suppose I’d want to be as busy as possible to help forget it.”

“Well, I think that Imbrie is crazy for sure.”