"Maybe a remittance man ain't a first-class callin'," said Toby, his
grin replaced by a hot flush. "But if it comes to that I'd say a lazy
loafin' bum ain't a heap o' credit noways neither. Howsum, them things
don't alter matters any. An' I, fer one, is sick o' your grouse--'cos
that's all it is. Say, you're settin' ther' on top o' that hoss like a
badly sculptured image that needs a week's bathin', an' talkin' like
the no-account fule most fellers guess you to be. Wal, show us you
ain't none o' them things, show us you got some sort of a man inside
your hide, an' tell us straight why you're out on this doggone trail
when you're yearnin' fer your blankets."
The attack was so unexpected that for once Sunny had no reply ready.
And Sandy positively beamed upon the challenger. And so they rode on
for a few moments. Then Toby broke the silence impatiently.
"Wal?" he inquired, his face wreathed in a grin that had none of the
amiability usual to it.
Sunny turned; and it was evident all his good-nature was restored. He
had suddenly realized that to be baited by the fatuous Toby was
almost refreshing, and he spoke without any sort of animosity. It
would certainly have been different had the challenge come from the
hectoring widower.
"Why for do I do it--an' hate it? Say, that's jest one o' them things
a feller can't tell. Y'see, a feller grouses thro' life, a-worritin'
hisself 'cos things don't seem right by his way o' thinkin'. That's
natteral. He guesses he wants to do things one way, then sudden-like,
fer no reason he ken see, he gits doin' 'em another. That's natteral,
too. Y'see, ther's two things, it seems to me, makes a feller act.
One's his fool head, an' the other--well, I don't rightly know what
the other is, 'cep' it's his stummick. Anyways, that's how it is. My
head makes me want to go one way, an' my feet gits me goin' another.
So it is with this lay-out. An' I guess, ef you was sure to git to
rock-bottom o' things, I'd say we're all doin' this thing 'cos Wild
Bill said so."
He finished up with a chuckle that thoroughly upset the equilibrium of
the widower, and set him jumping at the chance of retort.
"Guess you're scairt to death o' Wild Bill," he sneered.
"Wal," drawled Sunny easily, "I guess he's a feller wuth bein' scairt
of--which is more than you are."
Sandy snorted defiantly. But a further wordy war was averted by the
remittance man.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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