“Young fellow, still keeping all those commandments you wrote for yourself?”

“So far, my bucko.”

“Keep on keeping 'em, and write yourself a few more, and you'll have a brand-new decalogue. And we'll have a little Moses of our own. But in the meantime, son, what's the great idea of coming down here?”

“For one thing, I came to ask for a couple of your paintings.”

“My paintings!” Hunt regarded the other suspiciously. “What the hell you want my paintings for?”

“They might make good towels if I can scrape the paint off.”

“Aw, cut out the vaudeville stuff! I asked you what you wanted my paintings for? Give me a straight answer!”

“All right—here's your straight answer: I want your paintings to sell them.”

“Sell my paintings! Say, are you trying to say something still funnier?”

“I want them to sell them. Remember I once told you that I could sell them—that I could sell anything. Let me have them, and then just see.”