“I’m standing higher in his than I deserve.”
“Cut that out, Joe,” said Matt.
“I’ll cut it out and paste it in my hat so I won’t forget it. It’s the best lesson I ever had, and I’m going to profit by it. Lost—a fortune! That’s me. I was promised a place on Easy Street, and here I am in the hospital.”
McGlory chuckled.
“You may have lost a fortune, Joe,” said Matt, “but you’ve won something a whole lot better.”
“I have—two busted ribs and a couple of weeks’ lay-off. Oh, I’m a lucky dog!”
“Don’t fret about the ribs or the lay-off, Joe,” counseled Matt. “If you get to worrying, you may have to stay here longer than two weeks.”
“Funny how I shut my eyes in Random & Griggs’ office,” remarked McGlory, leaping from one subject to another with the abruptness of a person whose brain is still a little befogged, “and open ’em here. That was sure a hard ride from Hempstead in. I don’t know how I managed to hang on. I reckon it was my wish to play even with the colonel that held me up.”
“The colonel got his deserts, Joe,” said Matt.
“The syndicate was next to him all the time. Our chasing in to tell what we knew didn’t make such a terrible lot of difference.”