“You ain’t goin’ out, are you, kid?”
“Didn’t I tell you I wasn’t?”
“Sure, only I wanted to be positive, that’s all,” Panama explained with a ring of apology in his voice. “Guys like us, trying to be somebody in this here flyin’ racket, shouldn’t bother with women anyway.”
“I guess you’re right,” Phelps agreed, though secretly amused.
“Sure I am!” Panama reiterated, and then remembering what he came back into the tent for, asked somewhat sheepishly, “say, you ain’t got five bucks till pay day, have you?”
“Sure!” Lefty replied, reaching into his wallet and bringing forth a bill. “What do you want it for?”
Panama was at first reluctant to reply as Lefty watched him, amusedly, then at length, after pocketing the money, he managed to say: “Well—er—I don’t like to meet Elinor when I’m broke. You know how it is with the dames—they get such a funny idea of a guy when he ain’t got any dough. Play safe, that’s my motto, kid!”
CHAPTER XIII
Panama arrived at the field hospital just a few minutes after Elinor, tired of waiting, had left.
One of the nurses informed him that if he hurried, he might catch up with her before she reached the women’s barracks.