“You've had quite a trip since I last saw you, Mr. Mason,” he said.
“We didn't go so terribly far.”
“It's not length that makes a trip. It's what you see and what happens.”
“I saw a lot, and a hundred times more than what I saw happened.”
The contractor took two fine cigars from his vest pocket and handed one to Dick.
“No, thank you,” said the boy, “I've never learned to smoke.”
“I suppose that's because you come from Kentucky, where they raise so much tobacco. When you see a thing so thick around you, you don't care for it. Well, we'll talk while I light mine and puff it. And so, young man, you ran against Lee and Jackson!”
“We did, or they ran against us, which comes to the same thing.”
“And got well thrashed. There's no denying it.”
“I'm not trying to do so.”