“Oh! don’t let’s talk about coming back before we’ve even got there,” expostulated Hiram, looking unhappy. “I’ve got an awful lot to do before I turn my face homeward. I hope it all comes out right, and that the Golden Gate Company acts square with me.”
“If you get some money, Hiram, I suppose it’s all laid out before now in experiments that you’ve wanted to start and couldn’t?” Andy hinted.
“Well, what would you have me do with the stuff?” demanded the inventor indignantly. “I expect to devote my hull life to science. Hoarding money and discoveries in the realm of science don’t go hand in hand. You’ll notice that all the big bugs of professors don’t seem to care a lickin’ thing about the cash they gain. What they’re after is fame and glory. Some day—but never mind that now.”
“You were going to tell us we might live to see you famous, eh, Hiram?” Andy chuckled. “Well, stranger things have happened. Men have become president of these United States, and those who played with the same as boys never dreamed such a thing would ever come about. There’s always room at the top.”
“Five hours will soon pass,” Hiram went on to say, without paying any attention to the little slur there seemed to be in this remark on the part of the other.
“There’s one thing I want to speak to you about,” said Rob, his face assuming a look of gravity that impressed Hiram very much.
“What, me, do you mean, Rob?” he asked hurriedly.
“Yes,” Rob told him. “Here’s what it is. I’ve noticed that you keep on putting up your hand every little while, and feeling to see that your papers are safe inside your coat. It’s become second nature with you, the habit’s grown so strong.”
“Well, you told me to keep my mind on that matter, and never to forget it; and so every time it crops up I guess I feel to make doubly sure. What is there wrong about that, Rob, tell me?”
“Only this, Hiram; you’re getting so careless that you do it openly, and in such a way as to attract attention. If a person happened to see you do it once and then later on saw the movement repeated, his curiosity might be aroused, so that he would fall into the way of watching how often you did it.”