inconvenient."

"Be serious, soldier, or I shall not cut your meat for you at dinner."

"Excuse me. I forgot I was addressing a hot-cake queen. But please do
not threaten me, because I'm out of the army just twenty-four hours,
and I'm independent and I may resent it. I can order spoon-victuals,
you know."

"You aren't really Spanish?"

"Not really. Mostly. I'd fight a wild bull this minute for a single
red-chilli pepper. I eat them raw."

"And you're going home to your ranch now?"

"_Si_. And I'll not take advantage of any stop-over privileges on the
way, either. Remember the fellow in the song who kept on proclaiming
that he had to go back--that he must go back--that he would go back--to
that dear old Chicago town? Well, that poor exile had only just
commenced to think that he ought to begin feeling the urge to go home.
And when you consider that the unfortunate man hailed from Chicago,
while I--" He blew a kiss out the window and hummed:

"I love you, California.
You're the greatest state of all--"

"Oh dear! You native sons are all alike. Congenital advertisers,
every one."