“Sure I do,” said Tom, his voice full of feeling and with a simple boyishness which well became him in the circumstances, “only—what I mean is—you know what I mean—it’s that, oh just that you’re my closest friend. You saved my life, gee whiz, you old grouch, now you’ve got to take me for better or worse. Go ahead now, say something sarcastic.” CHAPTER XXII THE OBSCURE TRAIL Ned Whalen said nothing about the incident in the woods. But Tom did not fail to advertise his friend’s exploit. His generous enthusiasm seemed to amuse Whalen. Fairgreaves, too, was lavish in his colleague’s praise. All, including Ferris, acknowledged Whalen’s heroism. But Whalen himself seemed untouched by the episode. It cannot be said, even, that he seemed more closely drawn toward Tom than before. He liked Tom and seemed to find entertainment in the young fellow’s freshness and enthusiasm. But he did not seek him out. Perhaps that was just because he was taciturn and solitary of habit. At all events his duties presently intervened to put an end to their companionship. Tom became a real boss in the pleasant task of erecting a log cabin summer-house, while Whalen went to boss the job of planting poles for the electric wires down the south side of the mountain. As the work progressed farther and farther down the mountainside the men began taking their lunches with them, and since Tom dined in the cottage at night, he and Whalen met only occasionally. Tom was disappointed and a little piqued that the incident in the woods had not aroused Whalen to something like a stronger sentiment of friendship. But he was sensible enough to realize that Whalen was much his senior, and also that he had acquired a certain habit of detachment from every one. He was reserved and solitary, with a kindly, wistful squint at things and people. Even Tom could not shake him out of his whimsical, lonesome habit. Only one person understood him thoroughly and that was Audry Ferris. At least that was what she said. “I’m always suspicious of people that have two meanings to everything they say,” she observed to Miranda. “He may be physically strong (alluding to his exploit) and all that, but just the same I don’t trust him. He’s like the rest of them—ne’er-do-wells. If they really amounted to anything they wouldn’t be here. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised—” “Lor’, Miss Audry,” Miranda said. “I alius say dat man he no human man—he no human man, I say dat. Das what I say, I say he _no human man_. He got ghost blood dat man—he shoo have. No human man can hold up no tree—dat man am no human man. I say so when I see ’im creepin’ along de ledge in de night. Why he go dere? Huh? Why he go dere? You go ’long dat ledge an’ you find a ghosts’ meetin’ place, das what I say. Why he go dere in de night? I tell Misser Ferris, I tell him right out, I say dat man am _no human man_.”