Then he crossed his legs, and smoothed the upper knee with a strong,
fat hand.
"You've had quite a trip since I last saw you, Mr. Mason," he said.
"We didn't go so terribly far."
"It's not length that makes a trip. It's what you see and what happens."
"I saw a lot, and a hundred times more than what I saw happened."
The contractor took two fine cigars from his vest pocket and handed one
to Dick.
"No, thank you," said the boy, "I've never learned to smoke."
"I suppose that's because you come from Kentucky, where they raise so
much tobacco. When you see a thing so thick around you, you don't care
for it. Well, we'll talk while I light mine and puff it. And so,
young man, you ran against Lee and Jackson!"
"We did, or they ran against us, which comes to the same thing."
"And got well thrashed. There's no denying it."
"I'm not trying to do so."
"That's right. I thought from the first that you were a young man of
sense. I'm glad to see that you didn't get yourself killed."
"A great many good men did."
"That's so, and a great many more will go the same way.
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