“I want to see Mr. Britt,” said Wade, quietly.
“See Britt! You don’t think for a minute you’re goin’ to induce him to take our drive or do the square thing on the water question, do you?”
“But I want to see him for a reason of my own, Mr. Ide. I’m frank to say I don’t expect any justice from Britt, after my experience with him; but there is such a thing as justification for myself. I see you don’t understand.” He noted the little man’s wrinkling brows. “I don’t know that I’m exactly sure of my own mind. But I can’t seem to bring myself to fight this thing according to the code of the woods. I’m going into it with every ounce of strength and hope that’s in me, and there’s just one preliminary that I want for my peace of soul. I want to see Pulaski Britt.”
“If I was gettin’ ready to fight the devil,” remonstrated Ide, “I reckon I’d keep away from his brimstone-pot. He’s at his Jerusalem camp,” he added, grudgingly. “He went through two days ago.”
“Then that’s where I’ll go to find him,” said Wade, decisively.
Rodburd Ide fingered his nose and gazed on his partner with frank scepticism. “Whatever you want with Britt, you’re wastin’ your time on him”—his tone was sullen—“and the wind-up will be another peckin’-match with that long-legged rooster, MacLeod. I say, save time and strength for our own business, Wade.”
“And I say I’ve got business with Pulaski Britt, and propose to go to him like a man,” declared Wade. “You and I can’t afford to have any misunderstanding about this, Mr. Ide. You have said you picked me to handle this end. I’ve got to handle it in my own way, so far as dealings with men go. I’ll take your advice—I’ll ask your advice on details of the work, because I don’t know. As to my business with Mr. Britt, there is no doubt in my mind. I want you to go with me.”
And in the end Mr. Ide went, nipping his thin lips, not wholly convinced as to the logic of the step, but with his opinion of Dwight Wade’s courage and self-reliance decidedly heightened, and he reflected with comfort that those were the qualities he had sought in his partnership.