I rode some comin’ back, an’ he kept tryin’ to square himself; but I didn’t heed him. Just before we reached the foothills, we saw a fire, an’ when we reached it, the Friar was just finishin’ his supper. He an’ Horace bowed stiffly to each other, an’ I was just put out enough by Horace’s star-nonsense to feel like roastin’ some one; so I decided to roast ’em both.
I sat on my hoss an’ looked scornful from one to the other. “Here is two religious folks,” I said, impersonal to the pony, but loud enough for all to hear. “Here is two genuwine religious folks! One of ’em is workin’ for universal brotherhood, an’ the other is peddlin’ Greek religion which he claims to be founded on beauty an’ love an’ harmony. They meet in the mountains, an’ bow as cordial as a snow-slide. I think if ever I pick out a religion for myself, I’ll choose the Injun’s.”
I couldn’t have asked for any two people to look more foolish ’n they did. Neither one of ’em seemed to have anything to say; so I said to my pony: “Don’t you worry none, Muggins, I got a match o’ my own, an’ if we want to set by a fire, why, we can ride on to some place where wood is free, an’ build us one.”
“Will you not dismount an’ rest a while at my fire?” sez the Friar, in a tone meant as a slap at me.
“No, thank you,” sez Horace, “we must be goin’.”
“Yes, Friar,” I sez hearty. “Me an’ Horace has a bet up, an’ you can decide it. Also, you owe him somethin’ on his own hook. You drove him out o’ your religion an’ into the Greek religion; an’ if that don’t give him a direct call on you, why then you don’t realize what a pest the Greek religion is.”
They were so embarrassed they were awkward an’ spluttery; but I was sure ’at this was good for ’em, so I got off, threw the reins on the ground, an’ warmed my hands at the fire; while Horace apologized for me not knowin’ any better, an’ the Friar assured him coldly that everything was all right, an’ he was rejoiced to have a little company.
Well, for as much as ten minutes, we sat around enjoyin’ what I once heard a feller call frapayed convivuality, an’ then I took pity on ’em an’ loosened things up by tellin’ the Friar about the trip me an’ Tank an’ Horace had took into the mountains to pacify our nerves, just before he had stumbled on Horace that other time. O’ course I didn’t tell it all, as I didn’t want Horace to know any more about it than he knew already; but I told what a seedy little windfall Horace had been when we started out, an’ how he had come back crackin’ jokes an’ singin’ the infernalest song ’at ever was made up. I finally got Horace to sing ten or fifteen minutes o’ this song, an’ he droned it out so unusual doleful that he fetched a chuckle out o’ the Friar, an’ then we were feelin’ easy an’ comfortable, like outdoor men again.
Then I told the Friar what our bet was, expectin’ o’ course that he’d back me up; but what did he do but say ’at Horace was right as far as the stars was concerned. This tickled Horace a lot, an’ he began to crow over me until I concluded to test the Friar; so I sez to Horace that his religion havin’ been endorsed by the Friar himself, I’d become a Greek the first chance I had.
Horace didn’t take any trouble to hide his satisfaction, an’ he began to expound upon the beauty, an’ the art, an’ the freedom of the Greek religion at a great rate.