"'What you need is a boss,' I says, grinnin'.
"Then he knew me, but he didn't do no fancy start—he just growled out kind o' surly:
"'I'm competent to do all the bossin' on this place,' he says.
"'You may think so,' I joshed him, 'but if I couldn't keep a place lookin' a little slicker 'n this, I'd sell out and give some better man a chance.'
"Did that faze him? Not on your life. He checked up both horses before he opened his mouth again.
"'You don't look none too slick yourself. How comes it you're trampin' this hot weather?'
"I see what he was driving at and so I fed him the dope he wanted.
"'Well, I've had hard luck,' I says. 'I've been sick.'
"'You don't look sick,' he snapped out, quick as a flash. 'You look tolerable husky. You 'pear like one o' these chaps that eat up all they earn—eat and drink and gamble,' he went on, pilin' it up. 'I don't pity tramps a bit; they're all topers.'