"Wot for?"
"I'm engaged. It amounts to that, anyway. Esther loves me, Sam."
Sam slipped a trace off a whiffletree, then turned round to have a good look at his companion.
"Rushin' things, aren't yer?"
"We've cared for one another all along. I suppose the excitement helped things a hit. But isn't she a wonderful girl, Sam?"
"The blinkin' world's full of wonderful girls. Leastw'ys, London is."
"That's what I used to think. But I know different now. Esther's queen of 'em all. And thank God for prairie fires! that's all I've got to say."
"Gawd's bein' thanked fer a lot of things jus' nah, ain't 'e?—sloughs, an' blankits, an' nah prairie fires. Wot's 'e got ter do wiv it all? Ooo d'yer reckon ter thank when yer gets things like a broken neck, or a missis wot runs away wiv anuvver bloke, or——"
"Oh, shut up! you're nothing but a wet blanket yourself and a cold blooded heathen to boot. Haven't you ever had any religious training?"
"No."