"Politics?" said Stover, opening his mouth.
"Exactly," said Regan, puffing at his corncob pipe. "I want to go back out West and get in the fight. It's a glorious fight out there. A real fight. You don't know the West, Stover."
"No."
"We believe in something out there, and we get up and fight for it—independence, new ideas, clean government, hard fighters."
"I hadn't thought of you that way," said Stover, more and more surprised.
"That's the only thing I care about," said Regan frankly. "I've come from nothing, and I believe in that nothing. But to do anything I've got to get absolute hold of myself."
"Tom, you ought to get in with the fellows more. You ought to know all kinds," said Stover, feeling an opening.
"I will, when I get the right," said Regan, nodding.
"Why the devil don't you let the University help you out a while? You can pay it back," said Stover angrily.