‘It’s vacation. They were sight-seeing in Nogales. They ought to be sent back—’
‘We heard you tell her!’
‘It’s all this Burton girl’s fault.’
‘Slim,’ said Cal, unheeding, ‘you and me ain’t got no sway with this finishin’ school, if Elbert ain’t.’
‘We’ve got to have some sway,’ said Slim, ‘or it’s goin’ to be the plumb finish.’
‘What do you think our duty is?’ Elbert asked absently.
‘Our duty, I’d say, by these finishers,’ Slim whispered with considerable weight, ‘our duty is to stay with ’em whether they like it or not, and I’m meanin’ to do just that, only—’ He pointed to an empty place in the room where the littlest of the girls had stood, ‘Only, every time I takes a step to her, this little one with the rainbow necktie and the ruffle on her uniform, she looks as if she’s goin’ to stagnate down an’ die. I shore expects a bleat out of her, my next step, and all the time I see Elbert out of the corner of my eye, gettin’ closer and closer and talkin’ lower and faster—’
‘Must be some perfume he has on,’ said Cal.
‘I didn’t take it she was particular afraid of my advance,’ modified Slim, ‘just generally hos-tile. I sure drew the outlaw, though.’
‘Perhaps,’ suggested Cal, ‘if we turn over little Rainbow to Elbert, we could manage the other two.’