*897.]
“Oh, its nothing you care about,” I replied carelessly, but that
only made him the more determined. He persisted, and of course
I had to humor him. A look of surprise and perplexity came
into his face. He stared hard at the picture a moment and then
exclaimed:
“Why, that’s you—what in the deuce^—old man, you never
told me about that. Tom, didn’t we always exchange secrets at
college—and did I ever so much as breath a hint of anything you
told me in secret ? ’ ’
“Not that I know of,” I replied, smiling at his injured tone.
After this conclusive argument, he said nothing more, and we
both watched the fire a few minutes in silence.
“Well, Jack,” said I at last, “ I never told anyone that story,
and I wouldn’t have dared tell it to you five years ago; but for
the sake of old comradeship and upon your promise never to
reveal a word I'll tell it to you.”
He settled back in the cushions with a pleased smile upon his
face, and I began:
“As you know, Jack, I took an engineering course in college.
Well, when I graduated my uncle got me on a prospecting corps
which the Northern Pacific Railroad was sending out from
Spokane. All the country west of the Mississippi was new to me,
and, of course, I took my camera along, an elegant new seventy
five dollar instrument. I won’t bother you with the details of the
trip or of the work. I’ll just tell you about the picture.
“ When we reached Spokane, I was surprised to see the develop
ment shown. This mountain city of twenty thousand inhabitants
is more up to date than half the eastern cities of twice its size, and
the scenery is simply grand.
“There was another kodak devotee in our party, a trim
little fellow named ‘ Nick ’ Eaton, from St. Paul. As our party
was not to start out for a day or two, Eaton and I set out after
dinner to explore our new surroundings, our black-eyed repeaters
under our arms.
“ You know the Indians were pretty thick around Spokane at
that time, and we had seen several greasy old bucks and a few
wrinkled, weather beaten squaws selling polished horns and bead?
work around the station as our train came in. Well we saw more
of them before night.
' ‘ We strolled down through the town to the river Spokane*
You’ve read descriptions of the falls., Jack, so I don’t need to say
The Devil's Eye.