“Do you doubt my word, stranger?” exclaimed the Pike man, putting his hand to his side and fingering his knife.
“Not at all,” said Joe. “But I wanted to understand how it was.”
“I don’t give no explanations,” said the Pike man haughtily, “and I allow no man to doubt my word.”
“Look here, my friend,” said Joshua, “ain’t you rather cantankerous?”
“What’s that?” demanded the other suspiciously.
“No offense,” said Joshua, “but you take a feller up so we don’t know exactly how to talk to you.”
“I take no insults,” said the Pike man. “Insults must be washed out in blood.”
“Soap-suds is better than blood for washin’ purposes,” said Joshua practically. “Seems to me you’re spoilin’ for a fight all the time.”
“I allow I am,” said the Pike man, who regarded this as a compliment. “I was brought up on fightin’. When I was a boy I could whip any boy in school.”
“That’s why they called you a rip-tail roarer, I guess,” said Joshua.