in puppy love!" answered Big Tom. "I don't b'lieve in
the soft, calf stuff! And I'd jus' like t' know how it happens that you
two guys 're here at this time in the mornin'! How does it come? _Some
one_ must 've fetched y'! And I'm _goin'_ t' know, 'r else I'm goin' t'
break ev'ry last bone in y'r dude body!"

"Oh, my goodness!" quavered Johnnie. He turned and twisted in the big
chair. And he wished with all his might that he was having either a very
bad think, or a torturing nightmare. Seeing this second friend come, he
had felt an awful sinking of the heart. If the Westerner, rough and
ready and leathery as he was, could not conquer Big Tom, what would the
young scoutmaster be able to do?--and he so slender and light when
compared to the giant longshoreman! And now the latter was working
himself into a rage! Johnnie, head thrust from the folds of the quilt,
told himself that the whole world was coming to an end.

But Mr. Perkins did not seem to be disturbed by Barber's threats. "Fancy
that!" he said calmly. "Every bone! But where will you take it, Mr.
Barber?"

"Take what?" asked the longshoreman.

"Your whipping," answered Mr. Perkins; "--the good, sound, punching that
I'm going to give you." He began to get out of his coat.

A shout of laughter--from Big Tom, who next addressed the ceiling. "Oh,
listen t' this cute baby boy!" he cried. "He thinks he can lick me!
Me!--one o' the strongest men on the whole water front! One-Eye, tell
him how far _you_ got! Oh, save his life, One-Eye! Save his life!"

"Wisht I had a chunk o' fresh beefsteak fer this lamp!" declared the
cowboy, too miserable to care about what was going forward.

"Well," continued Mr. Perkins, "if you're so certain on the score of
what you're going to do to me, Mr. Barber, then, of course, you'll be
willing to make a bargain with me. Yes?"

Barber was in fine spirits. "Go ahead! Course I'll bargain! Anything y'
like! Git it out o' y'r system!" He sucked his teeth noisily.

"If I come out winner," began the scoutmaster, very deliberately, "then
I'm to have Narcissa for my wife--and you'll sign your consent. And we
shall go at once--this morning--and be married."

"So that's y'r bargain, is it?" said Big Tom. "Well, I'll say this: _if_
y' can lick me, which y' can't, then I'll make y' a present o' Cis----"

"Don't give away what isn't yours!" Cis interrupted sharply. "And please
understand, bargain or no bargain, that I'm leaving here this mornin