O’Malley made no comeback. He was sound asleep, his Adam’s apple riding up and down gently, his lips moving as he snored deeply. Stan said in a low voice:
“He meant it when he offered to get a gun for the O.C.”
“Now, now, you Yanks are gullible, everyone knows that, old man, but you shouldn’t be taken in so easy.”
“You wait and see,” Stan said. “We’ll have to stick with him no matter what fool stunt he pulls.”
“Sure, old chap,” Allison agreed, but the sardonic twist of his mouth showed he thought Stan as crazy as O’Malley. He got to his feet. “Don’t let him miss dinner or we’ll have trouble. We aren’t on the call list until tomorrow morning. I have a bid to a bit of a dinner outside tonight.”
“Gal?” Stan asked.
“Gal,” Allison agreed.
“I’ll wake the Irisher up,” Stan promised.
The next morning Allison came barging into the breakfast room glowering savagely. He dropped into a chair across from Stan and O’Malley and snapped his order at the corporal. O’Malley gave him a brief look, then returned to his job of spreading jam on a huge stack of hot cakes which were flanked by a double order of sausages. The lank Irisher was not in a talkative mood. Stan grinned at Allison.
“What’s eating on you? Did some civilian steal your gal?”