“What I think ain't got nothing to do with it. I got you the job, but I can't keep you if you don't take a brace. The boss wouldn't stand for it. You got to earn your pay.”
“It's easy for you to talk. You're getting good money. I'm working hard enough for every cent I get.”
“None o' your talk now, Bruce. You can't bluff me. You just quit loafing and get down to business. You're going to do it, too, if I have to knock it into you. Understand?”
Bruce walked away in a surly mood, but for a few days Hunch saw a slight improvement in his work. Then there came a slump. Hunch said nothing until one noon he overheard Bruce and McGuire grumbling together. He called Bruce away.
“Look here, Bruce,” he said, “you know what I told you.”
“What you got to kick about?”
“None o' your lip. You just keep away from McGuire.”
“I don't see what you got to say about a friend of mine.”
“Friend of yours, eh? I s'pose you're bunking with him, too?”
“Well, whose business is it if——”