“Nope—but I was mighty near it once. I've seen 'em both in the movies.”
“Well, sir,” said I, “that's interesting. I should like to see them myself. Do you know what made me speak of them?”
He had spread down a newspaper and was taking the luncheon out of his “bucket,” as he called it, including a large bottle of coffee; but he paused and looked at me with keen interest.
“Well,” said I, “when I saw you dragging that wire yesterday I took you to be a pretty husky citizen yourself.”
He grinned and took a big mouthful from one of his sandwiches. I could see that my shot had gone home.
“So when I got back last night,” I said, “I looked up the arm measurements of Sullivan and Fitzsimmons in a book I have and got to wondering how they compared with mine and yours. They were considerably larger than mine—”
Bill thought this a fine joke and laughed out in great good humour.
“But I imagine you'd not be far behind either of them.”
He looked at me a little suspiciously, as if doubtful what I was driving at or whether or not I was joking him. But I was as serious as the face of nature; and proceeded at once to get out my tape measure.
“I get very much interested in such things,” I said, “and I had enough curiosity to want to see how big your arm really was.”