"Not that either," said he.
"You aren't in the company's employ?" persisted the stranger with an undercurrent of huge delight in his tone, as though he were playing a game that he enjoyed.
Bob threw back his head and laughed. It was a short laugh and a bitter one.
"No," said he shortly, "—not now. I've just been fired."
The big man promptly dropped down beside him on the log.
"Don't say!" he cried; "what's the matter?"
"The matter is that I'm no good," said Bob evenly, and without the slightest note of complaint.
"Tell me about it," suggested the big man soberly after a moment. "I'm pretty close to Fox. Perhaps----."
"It isn't a case of pull," Bob interrupted him pleasantly. "It's a case of total incompetence."
"That's a rather large order for a husky boy like you," said the older man with a sudden return to his undertone of bantering jollity.