“Why do you wish you was me?” sez he.
“’Cause,” sez I, “you’ve got a chance to do the biggest deed I know of.”
“What is it?” sez he, examinin’ my face to see if I was sheepin’ him.
“No,” sez I, shakin’ my head; “I ain’t got any right to even think of it, let alone hint at it. You might think I was buttin’ into your affairs, and then again—No, I refuse to suggest it. If it’s your duty, you’ll see it yourself; but I won’t take the responsibility of pointin’ it out.”
“What in thunder did you mention it at all for, then?” sez The, gettin’ curious an’ exasperated.
“And then besides,” sez I to myself, out loud, “there’s Horace. Like as not he wouldn’t allow you to run your head into danger any more.”
“What!” yelled The. “Didn’t we run our heads into danger all over the tropics of the Orient, didn’t we goad up danger an’ search for it and roust it out of its hidin’ places and—Why, confound you—”
In about ten minutes I stopped him, an’ sez in a quiet voice: “Well, then, if I was you, I’d go on down to Ty Jones’s and take on with him again.”
We lay on the grass there, along Pearl Crick for some time without speakin’. Up on the rim, the grass was burned to a crisp; but along the crick it was still green. Promotheus pulled blade after blade of it and chewed ’em up in his mouth, while me an’ Tank watched him.
“What you mean, is for me to take on with Ty Jones—and then to act spy on him. Ain’t that what ya mean?” sez The after a time.