This question Rupert did not care to answer. Ben Boone was a very good guide and hunting companion, but he was not exactly the kind of man he would choose as a confidant.
"I think everybody is rich that lives in New York," said Ben, with a touch of envy.
"What makes you think that?"
"I have had New York people with me before. I have traveled with them, and hunted with them. They always seemed to have plenty of money."
"It may be so with those who come out here, but there are plenty who never travel at all, who live in poor houses in a poor way, who earn small wages, and are no better off than you, perhaps not so well off. I was very poor myself once, and had scarcely money enough to buy myself food."
"But you got over it. You got rich after a while."
Rupert protested that he was not rich, but Ben Boone was incredulous, though he did not say so. He talked more and more about New York. He seemed to want to learn all he could about it.
Rupert was not surprised. He remembered that when he was a boy in the country, he, too, thought and dreamed a great deal about the great city. After he lived there and grew familiar with its marvels, he became indifferent to it, as much so as Ben Boone was to the wonderful mountain scenery. He felt disposed to joke a little about is.
"There is one thing you have here that we don't have in New York," he said with a laugh.
"What is that?"