“What ho, Caliph! Unpleasant news?” she ventured.
“Yes—and no. I had one of the finest jobs in the world all staked out—and now the boss cables me it's filled—by a better man.”
“What are you going to do about it?”
“Well—as soon as I've had my breakfast, I'm going to cable Neddy Jerome and tell him I'm satisfied—satisfied to stay here and satisfied he's a liar. You see, Miss Ruey, he objected vigorously to my coming here in the first place—wanted me to take a thirty-day vacation and then manage the Colorado Consolidated Mines Company, Limited, for him. I like Neddy and would have been glad to go to work for his company, but of course Billy comes first, and so I declined the offer. Later I changed my mind, and last night I cabled him I'd accept if he'd wait sixty days—possibly ninety; and now he replies that he's sorry, but the job is filled by a better man. That's why I know he's a liar.”
“I see. You figure there isn't a better mining engineer than you—eh, Caliph?”
He looked at her reproachfully. “No, but Neddy Jerome does, and I know he does because he has taken the trouble to tell me so more than once. And as a rule Neddy inclines toward the truth. However, it's just as well——” He paused, staring hard at her. “By the way, you foretold this! Why, this is amazing.”
She could now have wept with laughter. “Well”—soberly—“I told you some other things equally amazing, did I not?”
“Yes, you told me other things more or less interesting, but you foretold this. How do you account for that?”
“The witness declines to answer, on the ground that she may incriminate herself and be burned for a witch.”
“Remarkable woman!”