“Gave her too much, several times!”
“And you wondered if she was as good as she was beautiful! One day you were thrilled with hope, the next you were cynical and bitter—till at last you gave up in despair, and ran away to work in a coal-mine!”
They laughed, and MacKellar and Edstrom joined in. But suddenly Keating became serious again. “I ought to be away on that story!” he exclaimed. “I've got to get something out of that crowd about the disaster. Think what copy it would make!”
“But how can you do it?”
“I don't know; I only know I ought to be trying. I'll hang round the train, and maybe I can get one of the porters to talk.”
“Interview with the Coal King's porter!” chuckled Hal. “How it feels to make up a multi-millionaire's bed!”
“How it feels to sell stuffed dates to a banker's daughter!” countered the other.
But suddenly it was Hal's turn to become serious. “Listen, Mr. Keating,” said he, “why not let me interview young Harrigan?”
“You?”
“Yes! I'm the proper person—one of his miners! I help to make his money for him, don't I? I'm the one to tell him about North Valley.”