Dutch Courage and Other Stories (Unabridged)

Just our luck! Gus Lafee finished wiping his hands and sullenly threw the towel upon the rocks. His attitude was one of deep dejection. The light seemed gone out of the day and the glory from the golden sun. Even the keen mountain air was devoid of relish, and the early morning no longer yielded its customary zest. «Just our luck!» Gus repeated, this time avowedly for the edification of another young fellow who was busily engaged in sousing his head in the water of the lake. «What are you grumbling about, anyway?» Hazard Van Dorn lifted a soap-rimmed face questioningly. His eyes were shut. «What's our luck?» «Look there!» Gus threw a moody glance skyward. «Some duffer's got ahead of us. We've been scooped, that's all!»