“Is that so?” responded Gallagher, mockingly. He was not devoid of courage, though neither he nor any three men up and down the river cared to face Long Mike in a rough-and-tumble fight.
“It is,” said Long Mike, “an’ if ye’ll come ashore, I’ll break ivery bone in yer body.”
“Ye’ll not,” said Gallagher.
“An’ why?” demanded Long Mike.
“Because I’ll not come ashore.”
Preposterous as this proposition was, Long Mike did not appear to recognize the fact that the other could hardly remain in the water indefinitely, and that all he had to do was to wait. He broke out again in language to which no polite person would willingly listen, and concluded by saying: “I can lick the life out o’ yez.”
“Ye can,” said Gallagher, unhesitatingly. “An’ I can outdhrink yez.”
“Ye can that,” said Gallagher again.
“An’ I can outrun yez.”
“Yis.”