Out here it
isn't how straight you can shoot at a bull's-eye, but how quick you can
plant your bullets, and usually in a mark that isn't obliging enough to
be dead in line. So I practice occasionally, just in case."
"Very interesting. But I've got luncheon to cook," said Io.
They returned through the desert. As he opened the door of the shack for
her, Banneker, reverting to her autobiographical sketch, remarked
thoughtfully and without preliminary:
"I might have known there couldn't be any one else like you."
CHAPTER XI
Although the vehicle of his professional activities had for some years
been a small and stertorous automobile locally known as "Puffy Pete,"
Mr. James Mindle always referred to his process of postal transfer from
the station to the town as "teamin' over the mail." He was a frail,
grinny man from the prairie country, much given to romantic imaginings
and an inordinate admiration for Banneker.
Having watched from the seat of his chariot the brief but ceremonial
entry of Number Three, which, on regular schedule, roared through
Manzanita at top speed, he descended, captured the mail-bag and, as the
transcontinental pulled out, accosted the station-agent.
"What'd she stop for, Ban?"
"Special orders.
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