“Freezin’, an’ so’m I,” said the other shortly. “You keep me waiting a devil of a time.”
“Business, oh my friend, business. Can I utter a word to the ears of your nationality more convincing? I was necessitated to converse with my host, the rich and amiable Early. Ah, the nature of humanity is eternally interesting.”
His companion grinned.
“Which means, being interpreted, you’ve got some lay, I suppose. What is it!”
“Abruptness is to me foreign,” said the Swami, waving his great hand with its combination of fat palm and taper fingers. “It disturbs me. Perhaps, some day, I shall need tell you. The amiable Early is as are all mankind. On the one side he gropes among infinities. Do we not all so? On the other side he is tied by this body of clay to the groveling earth. Are we not all so? Am not even I myself?” The Swami turned benevolently toward the other.
“You bet! And you can sling language about it!” said the man, and he opened his rat’s mouth and laughed without noise. Even Ram Juna’s face relaxed into its Buddha smile, calm, inscrutable, as the two gazed on each other. Suddenly the younger drew himself together.
“Well, I ain’t got no time to spare,” he said. “Are they ready?”
“I, as well as you Americans, can be the votary of business,” answered Ram Juna. “The first principle of business is promptitude. My friend, they are ready.”
“Well, hand ’em over,” said the little man. “Now my job begins; and I guess it’s as ticklish as yours. You may need the skill, but I need the gall.”
“The daring of the leopard when it leaps from the bush where it crouches, the daring which is half cunning, eh, my friend?” said the Swami comfortably. “Here, take the package and go thy way. There will be more in the future. These I brought with me from India, and even the eagle customs found them not. Many night-hours have I spent in preparing them, and mine eyes have been robbed of sleep. It is no slight task to produce a masterpiece.”