'Softly, mate; no need for hard names. We come here as sportsmen, making you a fair offer, thinking, perhaps, you'd be glad of a bit of a rough-up this fine day.'
'Then you can go to the devil!' said Jim, laughing in spite of himself.
'You won't fight?'
'I will not. I'm no fighting man. I only fight when forced, and then with a bad grace, I can assure you.'
The two men looked quite pathetic in their disappointment as they turned to rejoin their companions.
'Well, of all the outrageous—' gasped Jim.
'Price of fame! said the Prodigal.
Mike grinned. 'Don't be selfish, Jim. I've got nothing to do this afternoon, an' would just as soon watch a good scrap. Why not oblige the kind gentleman?'
'You and the kind gentleman can go hang!'
'They've got Brummy the Nut there,' the Prodigal said. 'Brummy is a lag who had all the sensibilities battered out of him in the quarries. He has no science, but hits like the kick of a cart-horse, and is humbly grateful for punishment that would knock the hide off an old man hippopotamus.'