He was the most serious man Nick had ever known.
Not heavy, serious.
That was a long time ago Hopkins spoke without moving his lips.
He had played polo.
He made millions of dollars in Texas.
He had borrowed carfare to go to Chicago when the wire came that his first big well had come in.
He could have wired for money. That would have been too slow.
They called Hop's girl the Blonde Venus.
Hop did not mind because she was not his real girl.
Hopkins said very confidently that none of them would make fun of his real girl.
He was right.
Hopkins went away when the telegram came.
That was on the Black River.
It took eight days for the telegram to reach him.
Hopkins gave away his 22-caliber Colt automatic pistol to Nick.
He gave his camera to Bill, It was to remember him always by.
They were all going fishing again next summer.
The Hop Head was rich. He would get a yacht and they would all cruise along the north shore of Lake Superior.
He was excited but serious.
They said good-bye and all felt bad.
It broke up the trip.
They never saw Hopkins again.
That was a long time ago on the Black River.
Nick drank the coffee, the coffee according to Hopkins.
The coffee was bitter.
Nick laughed.
It made a good ending to the story.
His mind was starting to work.
He knew he could choke it because he was tired enough.
He spilled the coffee out of the pot and shook the grounds loose into the fire.
He lit a cigarette and went inside the tent.
He took off his shoes and trousers, sitting on the blankets, rolled the shoes up inside the trousers for a pillow and got in between the blankets.
Out through the front of the tent he watched the glow of the fire when the night wind blew.
It was a quiet night.
The swamp was perfectly quiet.
Nick stretched under the blanket comfortably.
A mosquito hummed close to his ear.
Nick sat up and lit a match.
The mosquito was on the canvas, over his head Nick moved the match quickly up to it. The mosquito made a satisfactory hiss in the flame.
The match went out.
Nick lay down again under the blanket.
He turned on his side and shut his eyes.
He was sleepy.
He felt sleep coming.
He curled up under the blanket and went to sleep.
PART II
In the morning the sun was up and the tent was starting to get hot.
Nick crawled out under the mosquito netting stretched across the mouth of the tent, to look at the morning.
The grass was wet on his hands as he came out.
The sun was just up over the hill.