'I don't believe it. It's a—' began Shaw.
'Stop,' said Jim. 'Even if you have been on a "jag," I allow no man to call me that.'
He spoke in a resolute tone, and Rodney Shaw, pulling himself together, thought better of what he was about to say, and went out to him.
'You took me by surprise,' he said in an apologetic way. 'I have been absent so long that I am not accustomed to the change again.'
'How haggard and worn he looks,' thought Jim. 'I wonder what ails him.'
'Have you been on a "jag"?' asked Jim, smiling.
Rodney Shaw looked at him. He evidently did not understand what he meant.
Jim thought this strange.
'Surely you have not forgotten what a "jag" means. You have been on one or two in your time at Swamp Creek.'
Rodney Shaw laughed.