CHAPTER 5OUTSIDE THE DOOR he paused to light his first cigar in three days and let the growing warmth of the noon sun seep through his big body as he looked slowly over the town.
It was as yet not too much of a place, but he had taken a hand in its building and he had a deep proprietary interest in its uncertain future.
He had been away three weeks and even in that short interval the place had grown. The new, raw buildings were filling up the gaps along the street, making it look busy and important; yet the street itself was nothing but a sea of sticky mud, and the slatted sidewalks were little better, for the damp steaming boards had been so tracked with goo from the roadway that the footing on them was almost as treacherous as in the center of the rutted thoroughfare.
The town lay rou
