The passing stranger was stunned to find
out in the wilderness such a spot; gayety, prodigal hospitality, a
police force of gentlemen--nearly all of whom were college
graduates--and a club, where poker flourished in the smoke of
Havana cigars, and a barrel of whiskey stood in one corner with a
faucet waiting for the turn of any hand. And still the foundation
of the new hotel was not started and the coming of the new
railroad in May did not make a marked change. For some reason the
May sale was postponed by the Improvement Company, but what did it
matter? Perhaps it was better to wait for the fall, and so the
summer went on unchanged. Every man still had a bank account and
in the autumn, the boom would come again. At such a time June came
home for her vacation, and Bob Berkley came back from college for
his. All through the school year Hale had got the best reports of
June. His sister's letters were steadily encouraging. June had
been very homesick for the mountains and for Hale at first, but
the homesickness had quickly worn off--apparently for both. She
had studied hard, had become a favourite among the girls, and had
held her own among them in a surprising way.
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