Tombstone gnaws a little more and fights his hat.
“Yeah, I s’pose that’s right, Ike. Are you and Dirty Shirt part and parcel of this here movement?”
“Not knowin’ly, Tombstone,” says I. “You can speak to me with perfect confidence and go away feelin’ that I won’t exaggerate what you’ve told me.”
“There has been braggin’ goin’ on,” stated Tombstone. “If there’s anythin’ Paradise hates it’s braggin’. Piperock orates that she’s leapin’ ahead like a bee-stung bear. She ain’t, Ike. It jist ain’t no ways possible for her to leap thataway. She ain’t active like Paradise. We’re able to do things.
“Whereabouts in — does Piperock compare with Paradise, I asks yuh to answer honestly? She don’t. We’ve got spirit, climate and brain power. We’ve got courageous men, wimmin and children. Why, our offspring are equal to two grown men of Piperock. We’ve got everythin’, Ike.”
“Except a elephant, a camel and a tiger,” says I.
“What’s them amount to?”
“And a Chamber of Commerce, Tombstone.”
“Mm-m-m, yeah. Well?”
“Well—right back at yuh. I never started this argument.”