"I'm glad that's settled," Tex went on. "My cellmate is a nice little guy, but he's got a blood brother, or some such, he wants to room with. Came to see him before dinner. They chattered away in Hindustani, I guess it was. Made me nervous. Then they shifted to Basic out of politeness, and that made me more nervous."
"You don’t look like the nervous type."
"Oh, all us Jarmans are high strung. Take my Uncle Bodie. Got so excited at the county fair he -jumped between the shafts of a sulky and won two heats before they could catch him and throw him."
"Is that so?"
"My solemn word. Didn't pay off, though. They disqualified him because he wasn't a two-year-old."
Burke joined them and they sauntered down to the rotunda. Several hundred other candidates had had the same idea but the administration had anticipated the rush. A cadet stationed at the stairway into the pit was permitting visitors in parties of ten only, each party supervised by a cadet. Burke eyed the queue. "Simple arithmetic tells me there's no point in waiting."
Matt hesitated. Tex said, "Come on, Matt. Some will get tired and drop out."
Burke shrugged, said, "So long, suckers," and wandered away.
Matt said doubtfully, "I think he's right, Tex."
"Sure-but I got rid of him, didn't I?"