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THE SEED BEDS.
171

"I can't say, Bob, unless it be that I am not clever enough."

"Clever! you're a modest man, Jack, I know, but if I did not know you to be genuine I should say now that some of the modesty was put on. Not clever enough? You've seen through this fellow sooner and farther than I. You might better say too clever, but that is not it either."

"Well, what is it, then?"

"You are too good for him. You have too quick and clear a perception of what is right, and you are not ready enough to let the lust of knowledge blind your conscience. But, please God, this fellow will find that I am not after all quite the sort of man he takes me to be."

"My dear Bob, I am just as likely as you are to have dust thrown in the eyes of my conscience, only a different sort of dust. Your turn has come first, that is all. You'll baffle him and then my turn perhaps won't come at all. Let us both keep our eyes open to-day. If I can learn how to manage those cars of theirs, and if they give us half a chance, we will make a run for it."

"Do you forget the light last night?"

"I forget nothing, but we will give them the slip somehow."