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Rh he's goin' to have it decorated wit' a double set o' plates when I get through wit' him—when I get through with him. And the next time he'll holler so loud for help they'll be fannin' him wit' a hearse-plume before he 's finished!"

Teddie tried to stop him as he turned away.

"Noth-thing doin'!" he proclaimed with his movie-hero side-movement of the hand. "I'm Irish, I am, and me Irish is up. Yuh're goin' to see this goob bitin' on a mouth-gag or yuh're goin' to see crape swingin' over his door-mat!"

"It's no use," Teddie still tried to tell him. "It's too late. It will only make things much worse than they already are!"

But Gunboat Dorgan hadn't been crowned with that soubriquet of belligerency without fit and proper reason.

"I'm wise to this lay-out now," he announced from the doorway, "and I'm goin' to have a hand in windin' it up. It's no use tryin ' to flag me off. And I ain't sayin ' yuh're a quitter, for yuh're only a girl. But yuh don't see me layin' down in the