book took away to boot."

"You could risk your danged old ticket. It ain't no use to you on
salt water anyhow," McGuffey jeered insultingly.

"We can work our passage an' who's to know the difference,
Scraggsy?"

"You for one an' McGuffey for two. You'd have the bulge on me
forever after. You could blackmail me until I dassen't call my
ship my own."

"Don't worry, you snipe. Nobody else will ever hanker to own
her." Another insult from McGuffey. Having made up his mind that
a fight was inevitable, the honest fellow was above pleading for
mercy.

"Enough of this gab," Mr. Gibney roared. "My patience is
exhausted. I'm dog-tired an' I'm goin' to have peace if I have to
fight for it. Me an' Bart stays aboard the steamer _Maggie_ until
she gets back to Frisco town or until we're hove overboard in the
interim by the weight of numbers. An' if any man, or set o' male
bipeds that calls theirselves men, is so foolish as to try to
evict us from this packet, then all I got to say is that they're
triflin' with death." (Here Mr. Gibney thrust out his superb
chest and thumped it with his horny fists, after the fashion of
an enraged gorilla. This was sheer bluff, however, for while
there was not a drop of craven blood in the Gibney veins, he
realized that his footwork, in the event of battle, would be
sadly deficient and he hesitated to wage a losing fight.) "I got