"
"Oh, I can't do that! I'm sorry, but--"
"Don't make us insist." Willie looked up from his tray, and Glass
raised a moist hand and said:
"Don't make 'em insist."
With fascinated stare Speed drew nearer to Stover and examined
the meat bone.
"Why--why, that's _raw_!" he exclaimed.
"Does look rar'," agreed the foreman.
"Then take it out and build a fire under it. I'll consent to eat
here, but I won't turn cannibal, even to please you."
"I'm sorry." Stover did not interrupt his carving.
"Your diet ain't been right," explained Willie. "You ain't wild
enough to suit us."
Speed searched one serious face, then another. Fresno was nodding
approval, his countenance impassive.
"Is this a joke?"
"We ain't never joked with you yit, have we?"
"No. But--"
"This breakfast goes as she lays!"
Glass broke abruptly into smothered merriment. "When I laugh
nowadays it's a funny joke," he giggled.
That grown men could be so stupid was unbelievable, and Wally,
seeing himself the object of a senseless prank, was roused to
anger.
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