When she did not reply at once but contented herself by putting a deal of eloquence into a look—which, by the way, had no visible effect upon his rising good humor—he went on to remark:
"If you just slapped my face it would be worth it. If you just shot me through the finger-nail or something like that, it would be worth it still." He examined her critically. "Even if you plugged me square through the thumb——"
"If you don't know it," she informed him aloofly, "you are trespassing right now where you are not wanted. The sooner you trail your big feet off Temple land the better I'll like it!"
"Temple land? Since when was a tree considered as land, Miss Teresa Arriega Temple?"
"Think that's funny?" she scoffed.
"And besides," he continued, "the tree is on Packard property. See that old pine stump over yonder? And that big rock there? Those things mark the boundary-line and you'll notice we're on my side!"
Terry's temper flamed higher in her eyes, flashed hotter in her cheeks.
"We are not! And you know we are not! The line runs yonder, just beyond that big white rock on the creek-bank. And you are a good ten feet on my side. Where, if you please, you are not wanted."
"That isn't a pretty enough thought to bear repetition," he offered genially. "Look here, Terry Temple, what's the use——"
"Are you going? Or do you intend just to squat there like a toad and spoil the view for me?"