“Give me both,” interjected Stacy. “I’ll have a pound of that cheese and about a peck of crackers. Got anything else?”
“Ginger snaps?”
“Hooray! Just like being in Chillicothe, isn’t it?” Stacy filched a hard cracker and 123slipped it into the mouth of a papoose on its mother’s back.
The squaw did not observe the action, but one of her sister squaws muttered something, whereat the mother snatched the cracker from the mouth of her young hopeful, cast the cracker on the floor and put her moccasined foot on it. She launched into a volley in her own language, directed at Chunky.
“That’s all right, madam. Roast me all you wish. I don’t care how much you insult me so long as I don’t understand a word you are saying.”
“Do you wish the cheese done up?” asked the proprietor.
“Done up? Certainly not. I’ll attend to the doing up myself.” Chunky took a large bite, then banged the end of the pop bottle against the counter to open the bottle. The stuff was highly charged, and a good quantity of it struck Ned Rector in the eye. Stacy waved the bottle at arm’s length before placing it to his mouth. The charge went over his shoulder and soaked the Professor’s whiskers before the fat boy succeeded in steering the mouth of the bottle safely to his lips.
Professor Zepplin sputtered, Ned Rector threatened, but the fat boy ate and drank, regardless of the disturbance he had caused.
124“If you open any more of that stuff be good enough to go outdoors to do so,” advised the Professor.
“I wuz thinking ob doig it in here and shooting a papoose with some ginger ale,” answered Stacy thickly.