' Well, I was just moving forward, anyway, so it was no
trouble at all, I assure you," asserted the doughty Cluff,
achieving a truly elegant conclusion.
"Most fortunate for me," said the girl sweetly. "Mr. Perkins
scuttled away like one of his own little wretched beetles. When I
see him again--"
"Again? Oh, well, if he's a friend of yours, accourse he'd awtuv
stood by--"
"He isn't!" she declared, with unnecessary vehemence.
"Don't you be too hard on him, miss," argued her escort. "Seems to
me he did a pretty good job for you, and stuck to it until he
found some one else to take it up."
"Then why didn't he stand by you?"
"Oh, I don't carry any 'Help-wanted' signs on me. You know, miss,
you can't size up a man in this country like he was at home. Now,
me, I'd have natcherly hammered that Von Plaanden gink all to heh
--heh--hash. But did I do it? I did not. You see, I got a little
mining concession out here in the mountains, and if I was to get
into any diplomatic mix-up and bring in the police, it'd be bad
for my business, besides maybe getting me a couple of tons of
bracelets around my pretty little ankles.
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