Buck greets us gladly, but Wick don’t seem so happy.
“You fellers been prospectin’ again?” asks Buck.
“Yeah, and we’re goin’ ag’in,” says Dirty Shirt. “This here town is gettin’ too danged effete to suit me and Ike.”
“It is effete,” agrees Mighty. “Ain’t been nobody killed for two weeks.”
“Cheer up, brother,” says Wick solemn-like. “There’s allus a lull before a storm.”
“You preparin’ to massacre?” I asks.
“Well, I ain’t been treated right,” says Wick. “I done paid a thousand cold dollars for some jungle insects, and I’m wonderin’ jist how I’m goin’ to cash in on said contraptions. Magpie Simpkins got me drunk and talked me into bein’ a public benefactor, dang his hide.
“Got me to procure the ingredients of a zoological garden, that’s what he done. Got the whole — town heated up over a thing he calls the Piperock Chamber of Commerce, and then goes out and gits himself elected president. That’s a — of a way to do, ain’t it?”
“You wanted to be president, eh?” I asks.
“Well, —, why not. I bought the — thing, didn’t I? Magpie said that Piperock would pay me back for it. How’ll they do it, I’d like to know. Mebbe I’m supposed to raffle ’em off, eh?”