Bat gloated over his rival; Castellani was dumfounded. Presently Sampey's nerve returned with his wits.
"Well," he remarked, contemptuously, drawing Zoë closer and holding her with a tender solicitude—"well, what of it?"
His insolence enraged Hoolagaloo. "H—hwat of eet! Santa Maria! Da scound! Ha, ha! Da gal no marry you now!"
Sampey deliberately moved Zoë so that he might reach his watch, and after looking calmly at it a moment he said:
"Muggie and I have been married just thirty hours."
The announcement stunned the Wild Man. Castellani himself had a hard mental struggle to realize the situation, and then, with his accustomed equanimity and his old-time air of authority, he said:
"Well, phat is oll the row aboot, annyhow? D'ye want to shpile th' mon's thrick, Misther Bat? An' thin, Misther Bat, it's a domned gude wan, it is; an' more'n thot, me gintlemanly son-in-law is me partner, too, Misther Bat, I'd have ye know, an' he's got aut'ority in this show."
That finished the Wild Man of Milo. He staggered out, shaved his nose, bought an axe, and fled to the mountains to chop wood again, leaving the Mysterious Man with the Spectre Eyes to become the happiest husband and the most prosperous freak and showman in the world.
The Faithful Amulet