'I can.'
'Not even a doctor?'
'Nary one.'
'I presume, therefore, that you can simulate the act of dying.'
'It's no presumption.'
'You can, that is, in the presence of other persons, and even of a medical man, pretend to die with such fidelity to nature that a doctor in attendance would not hesitate to grant a certificate of death.'
'You bet.'
'Will you do it?'
'Kid to die?'
'Exactly.'