“Major Carroll is going to take me up soon. Those old Ogden air-skimmers are not in it with a ship like Major Carroll’s. I guess one doesn’t feel as if he was sitting in a sieve, with the bottom likely to drop out any minute.
“I told you I was going to write to my guardian, Cran; and it’s done—fact. Say, that letter is enough to blister the air, or burn the postman’s hands. It ought to make a sensation.”
The firelight flickering over Cranny’s face showed a sadly disturbed expression.
“Odd kid!” he commented, “eh, fellows?”
“Awfully odd,” agreed Tom.
“An original,” drawled Dave.
“Major Carroll says he’ll be glad to meet our doctor, Thomas Cliffy; but I told him his joy wouldn’t last very long. Here’s a bill for his M. D.-ship:
| “For the loss of one red-covered book (I allow two cents off) | .23 |
| To one ride on longhorn— damage to nerves | 1.00 |
| “ “ muscles | .50 |
| “ “ bones | .10 |
| —— | |
| 1.83 | |
| Deduction on account of the crowd diving in among the longhorns | .55 |
| —— | |
| Balance | 1.28 |
“Remit by cowboy post.
“My regards to the bunch,
“William Brinton Sloan, P. G. S.”