What object could anyone have in such a trick against
you? It was a state prison job, if the fellow had been caught at the
time."
"Well, there's one thing Truax was innocent of, anyway," laughed Captain
Jack. "He didn't have any hand in the way I was tricked and robbed by the
mulatto."
"Blamed if I'm so sure he didn't have a hand in that, too," contended Eph
Somers, stubbornly.
"Yet Mr. Pollard recommended him," urged Jack.
"Yes, and a fine fellow Dave Pollard is--true as steel," put in Hal
Hastings, quietly. "Yet you know what a dreamer he is. Always has his head
in the air and his thoughts among the stars. He'd as like as not take a
fellow like Truax on the fellow's own say-so, and never think of looking
him up."
"Oh, we've no reason to think Truax isn't honest enough," contended Jack
Benson. "He's certainly a fine workman. As to his being sulky, you know
well enough that's a common fault among men who spend their lives
listening to the noise of great engines. A man who can't make himself
heard over the noise of a big engine hasn't much encouragement to talk.
Now, a man who can't find much chance to talk becomes sulky a good many
times out of ten.
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