"
But, to my surprise, he never discussed any of his private affairs with
me. I say "surprise," for until I met Jim I had found that men of his
class talked of little else, especially when over campfires smouldering
far into the night.
This reticence also extended to Marvin's affairs. The relations between
them, I saw, were greatly strained, although Jim always discharged his
duties conscientiously, never failing to render a strict account of the
time he spent with me, which Marvin always itemized in the weekly bill.
I used often to wonder if he were not under some obligation to his
employer which he could not requite; it might be for food and shelter
in his earlier days, or perhaps that he was weighted by a money debt he
was unable to pay.
One morning, after a particularly ugly outbreak in which Jim had been
denounced for some supposed neglect of his duties, I asked him, then
lying beside me, his head cupped upon his saucer of a slouch hat, why he
stayed on with a man like Marvin, so different from himself in every
way.
Pages:
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219