"'My mate's dyin' on your gatepost,' I said.
"'Then you'd better take him away from here,' said the parson.
"'But he wants help,' I said. 'He can't go a step further, and if you could give me a drop of brandy——'
"I didn't get any further with my story. The fellow whistled for his dog, and a big black animal came boundin' through the passage and started snarlin' when it saw me standin' there in the doorway.
"'Now, you get away from here,' said the clergyman to me.
"'My mate's dyin',' I said.
"'Seize him,' said the man to the dog."
"What a scoundrel that man must have been," I said, interrupting Moleskin in the midst of his story.
"He was only a human being, and that's about as bad as a man can be," said Joe. "Anyway, he put the dog on me and the animal bounded straight at the thick of my leg, but that animal didn't know that it was up against Moleskin Joe. I caught hold of the dog by the throat and twisted its throttle until it snapped like a dry stick. Then I lifted the dead thing up in my arms and threw it right into the face of the man who was standin' in the hallway.
"'Take that an' be thankful that the worst dog of the two of you is not dead,' I shouted. 'And when it comes to a time that sees you hangin' on the lower cross-bars of the gates of heaven, waitin' till you get in, may you be kept there till I give the word for you to pass through.'