Page:Digger Smith (C.J. Dennis, 1918).djvu/77

 "Sling that!" 'e sez; but I goes on: "Ole Jim won't blame yeh when she's gone. 'E knows, the same as me an' you. These silly tarts, they can't keep true." I piles it on until I've got 'Im where I want 'im—jumpin' 'ot.

An' then 'e sez, "'Ere, sling that talk! I might be groggy in me walk; But if yeh say them things to me I'm man enough to crack yeh; see?" "Righto," sez I. "That was me plan. Now wot about this 'arf a man?"

'E stares at me, an' then sez, slow, "Wot is yer game? Wot do yeh know?" "Nothin'," I tells 'im, "only this: When there's a waitin' tart to kiss Yeh're only 'arf a man; but when There's blokes to fight, yeh're twenty men."

"Wot tart?" 'e asks. "Yeh mean this Flo?" "P'raps not," I sez. "You ought to know." . . . I waits to let me words sink in. An' then—'e beats me with that grin. "Match-makin', Bill?" 'e laughs. "Oh, 'Ell! You take up knittin' for a spell."