Page:GB Lancaster--law-bringer.djvu/401

Rh of speech yet. Why, of course, it will improve it. Hopper will bear anything better than contradiction. And how could I disabuse his mind except by my fists? I don't want to go out of here in irons."

"If you'd given him your word of honour he'd have had to believe you!"

Cordy glanced at him sharply. There was something of envy and of pain in the quickly-veiled eyes. He knew, and Hopper knew, why he did not offer his word of honour. And Hopper knew, as he knew, that the matter would have to blow over simply because these lonely men dared not make their daily life intolerable. Cordy registered a determination that Hopper should be his partner for a few times when a fellow came by who was worth fleecing. That would shut Hopper's mouth if nothing else would. He yawned again.

"Oh, my dear boy, what do these louts know about a word of honour?" he said. Then he laughed softly, drawing up his coat as he stood before the stove. "That reminds me of a funny story that happened to a chap I knew in England." He paused, with light raillery in his eyes. "I don't know if you're old enough to hear it," he added.

Slicker fingered his lip where the soft down was already beginning to part itself into a moustache. This touched him on the quick as Cordy knew.

"Go on," he said surlily. And he laughed when it was told; for it was very funny, and Cordy's subtle delineations flattered his raw manhood. But he went to bed more uneasy than he cared to allow. That little song had in some way brought Jennifer and Tempest very clearly into his mind. And he did not care to think of them in connection with Cordy.

For several days the thought of Tempest possessed him. He knew, of course, that Tempest was at Churchill and that he would probably come out as soon as he Was fit. He realised that of late he had not been very anxious to see Tempest again, and with that straight courage which seldom failed him he sought the reason and found it. He did not want to have Cordy tell Tempest that he and Slicker were such good chums. And he knew just exactly how Cordy would say it, too. This matter kept him sulky;