Page:Allan Dunn--Dead Man's Gold.djvu/187

Rh "Some little sport!" said Laxkin. "If that bounder 'Ealy makes love to 'er I'll bash 'is face for 'im."

"He's too sick for that sort of thing," said Stone, lightly.

"You don't know 'im," said Larkin, morosely, "'E hain't got no more sense of decency than a Chinese pirut. 'E don't know a decent girl w'en 'e sees one, nor 'ow to treat 'er if he did. And it wouldn't do no good to warn 'er."

"Not a bit," assented Stone. "I believe you're in love with her, Larkin."

Larkin's pug-face grew dusky-red.

"'Oo? Me?" He said. "Wot if I was? Wot good 'ud it do me? It takes a slick devil like 'Ealy to pl'y that stuff. A lot of girls 'ud fall for 'is looks. A lot 'ave, I'll bet, to their sorrer. Wot chance would I stand halong of 'im?"

"A big one, Lefty," said Stone. "If you are in earnest. You forget you're going to make a pile of money. You're a better man than he is, Gunga Dhin. And she's no fool. She'll know when a man's straight."

"'Oo are you callin' heathen nymes?" said Larkin, still embarrassed. "As to the pile of money, 'Arvey wants a talk. We got to get a new houtfit and we're broke. 'Ow habout it?"

The three went into conference.

"Grub an' explosives, tools and a couple of burros, anyway," said Harvey. "We can go back the way we come out long as we got supplies. It's a heap the shortest. Might go to the head of Stone Men