When Virginia spoke, it was to ask abruptly: “Is it really his mine?”
“Judge Purcell says so.”
“But do YOU think so—down in the bottom of your heart?”
“Wouldn’t I naturally be prejudiced?”
“I suppose you would. Everybody in Mesa seems to have taken sides either with Mr. Ridgway or the Consolidated. Still, you have an option. Is he what his friends proclaim him—the generous-hearted independent fighting against trust domination? Or is he merely an audacious ore-thief, as his enemies say? The truth must be somewhere.”
“It seems to lie mostly in point of view here the angle of observation being determined by interest,” he answered.
“And from your angle of observation?”
“He is the most unusual man I ever saw, the most resourceful and the most competent. He never knows when he is beaten. I suppose that’s the reason he never is beaten finally. We have driven him to the wall a score of times. My experience with him is that he’s most dangerous when one thinks he must be about hammered out. He always hits back then in the most daring and unexpected way.”
“With a coupling-pin,” she suggested with a little reminiscent laugh.
“Metaphorically speaking. He reaches for the first effective weapon to his hand.”