"Kick him again, Buck," he said; "kick him
again and see how funny it'll be."

"Why, Gordon," Buckley Simmons protested, "we
were all stirring him up a little; you didn't say anything--"

Makimmon picked the dog up, holding him
against his side, the awkward legs streaming down
in an uncomfortable confusion of joints and paws.
"I paid two hundred dollars for this dog," he pronounced,
"as a piece of dam' foolishness, a sort of
drunken joke on Greenstream. But it's no joke;
the two hundred was cheap. I've seen a lot of good
men -- I'm not exactly a peafowl myself -- but this
young dog's better'n any man I ever stood up to;
he's got more guts."

He abruptly turned his back upon the gathering,
and descended to the road, carrying the limp, warm
body all the way home.

[[159]]

p158 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p159w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p160

v?