"The hell I don't!" howled Milt. "If you think I'm afraid---- Just to
show you I'm not, I'll let you go on today!"
"That's sense, my boy. It would be a shame for two such born companions
of the road to part!" Pinky had soared up from his blankets; was
lovingly shaking Milt's hand.
Milt knew that he had been tricked, but he felt hopeless. Was it
impossible to insult Pinky? He tried again: "I'll be frank with you. You're the worst wind-jamming liar I ever met.
Now don't reach for that gat of yours. I've got a hefty rock right here
handy."
"But, my dear, dear boy, I don't intend to reach for any crude lethal
smoke-wagon. Besides, there isn't anything in it. I hocked the shells in
Butte. I am not angry, merely grieved. We'll argue this out as we have
breakfast and drive on. I can prove to you that, though occasionally I
let my fancy color mere untutored fact with the pigments of a Robert J.
Ingersoll---- By the way, do you know his spiel on whisky?"
"Stick to the subject. We'll finish our arguing right now, and I'll
give you breakfast, and we'll sadly part."
"Merely because I am lighter of spirits than this lugubrious old world?
No! I decline to be dropped. I'll forgive you and go on with you. Mind
you, I am sensitive. I will not intrude where I am not welcome. Only you
must give me a sounder reason than my diverting conversational powers
for shucking me. My logic is even stronger than my hedonistic contempt
for hitting the pike."
"Well, hang it, if you must know---- Hate to say it, but I'd do almost
anything to get rid of you. Fact is, I've been sort of touring with a
lady and her father, and you would be in the way!"
"Aaaaaaah! You see! Why, my boy, I will not only stick, but for you, I
shall do the nimble John Alden and win the lady fair. I will so bedizen
your virile, though somewhat crassly practical gifts---- Why, women are
my long suit. They fall for----"
"Tut, tut, tut! You're a fool. She's no beanery mistress, like you're
used to. She really is a lady."
"How blind you are, cruel friend. You do not even see that whatever my
vices may be, my social standing----"
"Oh--shut--up! Can't you see I'm trying to be kind to you? Have I simply
got to beat you up before you begin to suspect you aren't welcome? Your
social standing isn't even in the telephone book. And your
vocabulary---- You let too many 'kids' slip in among the juicy words.
Have I got to lick----"
"Well. You're right. I'm a fliv. Shake hands, m' boy, and no hard
feelings."