"Got a home over there somewheres?" he queried suddenly, waving his hand
in the direction of the city.
Joe started, so correctly had his thought been guessed. "Yes," he said
simply.
"Tell us about it."
Joe rapidly described his home, though forced to go into greater detail
because of the curious questions of his companion. 'Frisco Kid was
interested in everything, especially in Mrs. Bronson and Bessie. Of the
latter he could not seem to tire, and poured forth question after question
concerning her. So peculiar and artless were some of them that Joe could
hardly forbear to smile.
"Now tell me about yours," he said when he at last had finished.
'Frisco Kid seemed suddenly to harden, and his face took on a stern look
which the other had never seen there before. He swung his foot idly to
and fro, and lifted a dull eye aloft to the main-peak blocks, with which,
by the way, there was nothing the matter.
"Go ahead," the other encouraged.
"I have n't no home."
The four words left his mouth as though they had been forcibly ejected,
and his lips came together after them almost with a snap.
Joe saw he had touched a tender spot, and strove to ease the way out of
it again. "Then the home you did have." He did not dream that there were
lads in the world who never had known homes, or that he had only succeeded
in probing deeper.
Pages:
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97