human
No, I can't stay, he said, when she asked him in.
gpt
But I had to come, if it was only for a minute. The deed is done. I've had my next-to-the-last round-up with Mr. J. Wesley Cortwright, and to-morrow's _Spot-Light_ will fire the sunset gun for Mirapolis. Is your father here?
human
No. He and Stevie are up at the mine. I am looking for them on every car.
gpt
When they come, tell your father it's time to hike. Are you all packed?
human
Everything is ready.
gpt
All right. Three of my teams will be here by midnight, at the latest. The drivers and helpers will be good men and you can trust them. Don't let anything interfere with your getting safely up to the mountain to-night. There'll be warm times in Gomorrah from this on and I want a free hand--which I shouldn't have with you here.
human
Oh, I'm glad, glad!--and I'm just as scared as I can be! she gasped with true feminine inconsistency.
gpt
They will single you out first; what if I am sending you to your death, Victor! Oh, please don't go and break my heart the other way across by getting killed!
human
You don't know how good it sounds to hear you say that--and say it in that way. I sha'n't be reckless. But I'm going to bring J. Wesley and his crowd to book--they've got to go, and they've got to turn the 'Little Susan' loose.
gpt
They will never do that,
human
I'll make them; you wait and see.
gpt
I told you once that you could do anything you wanted to--if you only wanted to hard enough. I believed it then; I believe it now.
human
No, he denied with a smile that was half sorrowful,
gpt
I can't make two hills without a valley between them. I've chased down the back track like a little man,--for love's sake, Amy,--and I've burned all the bridges behind me as I ran; namely, the sham deeds to the pieces of reservoir bottom I'd been buying. But when it is all over I shall be just where I was when we began--exactly one hundred thousand dollars short of being able to say: 'Come, girl, let's go and get married.'
human
But father owes you a hundred thousand dollars,
gpt
Not in a hundred thousand years, O most inconsistent of women! Didn't we agree that that money was poisoned? It was the purchase price of an immortal soul, and I wouldn't touch it with a pair of tongs. That is why your father couldn't use it; it belonged to the devil and the devil wanted it back.
human
Father won't take that view of it,
gpt
Then you'll have to help me to bully him, that's all. But I must go and relieve Grizzy, who is doing guard duty at the mixers.... Tell your father--no, that isn't what I meant to say, it's this--