"Yes, as far as the money goes," I replied, reservedly.
"Bully, old boy!" he shouted, seizing my hand in a vise-like grip. From then on the days were full of interest for both of us. Hiram's intention to master telegraphy became almost an obsession with him. From the moment he started in he seemed to forget everything else, and he worked as though his welfare in this world and the world to come depended upon his learning telegraphy in the shortest possible time. He ate, drank, inhaled, and absorbed the Morse system during every waking moment, and in less than three weeks he was substituting for a sick operator on the Yazoo & Mississippi Railroad.
Strong's was undoubtedly an intensive nature; the height and especially the width of his forehead clearly indicated power of concentration, which, apparently, he had done nothing to build up. It was the same way when he met the girl, Anna Bell Morgan, and when an intensive man meets a comprehensive girl there is apt to be trouble, or a wedding, or something equally interesting. If he had spent money with the same tenacity of purpose that he set about learning telegraphy I do not wonder that Hiram Strong, Sr., became tired to the bone of his folly and would have no more of it.
After working a week as a substitute he blew into quarters one evening like a cyclone and gave me a thump on the back that made me grunt.
"I've got it!—I've got it!—I've got it!" he shouted, his face aglow and his eyes snapping.
This time I was sure he had broken over into old habits, especially when I well knew the lure of that celebrated New Orleans gin fizz to which all newcomers seemed to succumb. But again I was wrong. Strong had simply boiled over with exuberant spirits and he certainly had a jag on board. His ardor not in the least dampened by my hesitation, he grabbed my hand and shook it vigorously, then capered about in front of me as a boy in his teens might do.
"Congratulate me, Old Man, I've got it!" he roared. "The Yazoo Railroad has offered me a station. Quarrytown, Ben—Quarrytown, Louisiana, is my address after to-morrow!"
Of course, that was pleasant news to me and naturally I became as excited as he, so much so that I became fearful we would jeopardize our joint reputations for sobriety.
"There's only one thing, and you've got to fix that—eh? I don't know just how: I must have a surety bond for a thousand dollars and also three first-class references—can we do it, Ben? Can you do it?" he repeated.