"She don't say," said the Outlaw, "but she wants you—quick."
"Quick?" gibed Jaffrey Bretton.
"She sure wants you quick," repeated the Outlaw.
"Oh, all right, we'll go now," acquiesced Jaffrey Bretton, "just as soon as I can jump into my khakis! Why, I wouldn't fail Martha for anything in the world! Why, that time the catfish stung me she——" Quite precipitate his face darkened, and then cheered again. "Oh, of course I haven't my launch here," he 139 acknowledged, "but we can go in yours!"
"Oh—no," protested the Outlaw gently. "It'll be night coming back, and I don't calculate on going nowheres in the dark. . . . It ain't healthy to travel in the dark. . . . My mother back home, she always say it ain't healthy no ways to travel in the dark."
"Oh, nonsense!" said Jaffrey Bretton. "Why, Martha may be ill!"
"She sure has got something," sighed the Outlaw, "but it ain't a dyingness. To-morrow'll do."
"It certainly won't do—if Martha's in trouble!" cried Jaffrey Bretton. "We'll go this minute! . . . Wait till I tell the ladies, and we'll all be along just as soon as we can grab up a bite to eat!"
Like a man smitten in his tracks, the Outlaw stopped short and began to twirl his battered slouch hat in his hands.
"Oh—not the ladies!" he protested wanly.