“By gum! if I didn’t jest furget ’bout lockin’ that door, partner!” Perk went on to exclaim, winking very hard as the electric light hit his eyes after his “bit of a nap;” but Jack said nothing in reproof, only settled down in a chair, beckoned the other to draw alongside, and calmly remarked:
“Got an earful for you, brother—lots of interesting things to tell; and you want to make a mental note of each and every one, so’s not to forget if the occasion arises. Now listen, and be prepared to speak up if you’re puzzled.”
CHAPTER XIV
Perk Gets an Earful
“Go to it, ole hoss; I’m all set!” was the way Perk announced the fact that every atom of drowsiness had fled from his eyes, and he was as wide-awake as any hawk that ever darted down on a farmer’s chicken pen.
Accordingly Jack started in to tell of the pleasant time he had experienced while spending a couple of hours with Mr. Casper Herriott and his charming family.
Perk was mildly interested at first, which was saying a good deal, considering how anxious he felt to have the narrator “get down to brass tacks,” as he himself would have expressed it; meaning facts intimately connected with the perils and anticipated progress of their present big adventure.
When, however, Jack reached the point where his host had made him promise to fetch his best pal along at some later date, as he was particularly anxious to meet and know him, Perk manifested fresh interest, and even asked several questions, thus learning what Mr. Herriott had said about having heard more or less concerning his, Perk’s, good qualities—and eccentricities.
“Shore,” he told Jack, soberly. “I’ll be glad to meet up with the gent any time yeou see fit to invite me along—mebbe when yeou’ve sorter got matters hitched to the post, an’ we’re figgerin’ on jumpin’ off fo’ keeps. I doant know ’baout the lady, since I aint much on talkin’ to sech; but I’d jest love to see them kids—got a soft spot in my ole heart fo’ awl boys an’ gals, ’specially them that aint much—er soperfisticated—hanged if I know haow to git that ere word; but anyway yeou ketch my meanin’, partner.”
Then Jack began to branch off to other things, with Perk sitting there, his eyes never once leaving the face of his chum, drinking in every low-spoken word as though he meant to print the same indelibly on the tablets of his memory—a bit fickle, it must be confessed, when he was caught unawares.
One thing followed another, and the interest seemed to increase rather than diminish; until Perk was breathing hard, and making a whistling sound between his set teeth, a little habit he had when intensely excited.