“What do you mean by throwing up my mistakes to me?” demanded the Major. “I only took that side of the argument because you took the other. Confound it, can’t a man argue in his own house?”
“He sure can,” grinned Krag, who enjoyed the Major’s tyrannical outbursts. “What’s the matter with Larry now?”
“He don’t say, confound him!” spluttered the Major. “Says he must see me on an important matter and is coming home. Confound him, why don’t he be more explicit?”
“Girl, I suppose,” suggested Krag, shrugging his shoulders. “It’s about time for him to have his first love affair.”
“Woof,” said the Major indignantly. “Girl? That child in love? Why, confound him, if he dares mention such a thing I’ll cowhide him within an inch of his life.”
“I suppose you didn’t have a girl when you were about his age, Major?” inquired Krag. “He’s past eighteen now—nearly nineteen.”
“I never had time for that girl foolishness,” snorted the Major. “Why, when I was his age”——
“Not even one?” persisted Krag teasingly.
“Oh, well”—— The Major paused a moment and grew thoughtful—— “Eighteen, eh,” he said, “when I was eighteen?”
He drummed for a moment with his fingers on the table and looked far away toward Shasta.