"Hadn't you better part them now?" Barbara asked with some anxiety.
"No, I'll stop them in time. I want to get acquainted with Tom's methods of persuasion first."
Tom's voice was rising in accents of wrath. "Joe, I'm a man o' peace—I'm a member o' the Brotherhood and you're my brother, but I'll tell ye right now we've got to have law and order in this community——"
"And I say, Tom Mooney, there hain't no law exceptin' what's inside a man."
"Yes, but how kin ye git any law inside a man ef he's always chuck full er licker?"
"I don't drink to 'mount to nothin'," Joe protested. "Just a drop now an' then ter keep me in good health."
"Wall, ef you try any more capers in that dinin'-room, your health's goin' ter break clean down—yer hear me?"
Joe eyed Tom a moment and said with sharp emphasis:
"I reckon I can take care o' myself, partner, without you settin' up nights to worry about me."
"That's just the trouble, Joe, ye can't. You jined the Brotherhood, but yer faith's gettin' weak. I'm afeard you're onregenerate, conceived in sin an' brought forth in iniquity, an' ye ain't had no change er heart nohow."