Page:Frank Packard - On the Iron at Big Cloud.djvu/315

 "You, yess; you, no. You, yess; you—oh! py golly

He had caught sight of Thornley, and, swinging suddenly, struck out viciously in that direction with the rolling-pin. Being obliged, however, to maintain his position in the doorway, the strategic key to the situation, the jab fell short by two or three inches, barely missing Thornley's nose.

Thornley fell back instinctively.

"Look here, you old ass!" he yelled angrily, "we've had about enough of this. It's past a joke. The company's got a lien on that joint of yours, and we'll close it up so tight you'll never open it again—d'ye hear?"

Dutchy stopped short in the monotonous, "You, yess; you, no," on which he had recommenced, and his paunch began to shake.

"Yah!" he cried. "Dot iss a joke. Oh, py golly, lean! Dot iss ven you ge-starving get, yah? Ho, ho! Ha, ha!"

In Dutch's burst of merriment first one and then another joined, until even Thornley, his good nature getting the better of him, roared with the rest at his own expense.

But if this apparent return to good humor on Dutchy's part inspired any hope in the minds of the railroad men that he had relented and that former friendly relations were to be resumed, they were doomed to disappointment, for Dutchy stolidly continued to allow the passengers to go in and as stolidly barred the entrance to the others.