“Yes,” said Carington. “We like what is difficult to get; but that is not all of it. I suppose, if bears were as easy to get as omnibus horses, neither you nor I would go after bears.”
“I guess that’s so.”
“What do you want to be, Jack, when you grow up?”
“I shall go to West Point.”
“Well, and after? The army is not a career, nowadays.”
“But there is first-rate sport in the West.”
“Yes; but that is for one’s idle hours. Life is a pretty big thing, Master Jack.”
“What do you do, Mr. Carington?”
“I build bridges, lay out railroads, generally scrimmage with nature to make life easier for man. How would you like that?”
“I don’t know.” He had a clever lad’s indisposition to commit himself. “Is it easy?—I mean, to learn. I hate books—school-books, I mean.”