(The strain is over. They relax.)

Captain: The Duke, he jest seen nothin'.

Patch: Jest nothin' at all.

"I 'spects nothin' from Patch" Duke: That 's what gets me. If the ol' lady 'd seen nothin', she would n't took ter fidgettin'. And therefore she seen somethin'. Does yer foller? You, Captain? I 'spects nothin' from Patch.

Patch: Yer hurts me feelin's, Duke.

Duke: Somethin' 's wrong. Somethin' 's wrong with Red Joe.

Patch: Red Joe 's a right smart feller, I says.

Captain: He can shoot as straight as ol' Flint. Barin' meself, Joe 's as straight a shot as I 've seen in many a year. Patch, agin him, is jest a crooked stick.

Patch: Pick on the Duke jest once, why does n't yer?