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 Texas, pushing Noggle's finger and thumb away from the hold on his upper lip; "and if I happen to meet the feller you speak of I'll pass the word on to him."

"A man owes something to a feller that's stood up for him," said the barber, but looking about him and craning his long neck to sweep the street and make sure that his words would not be heard by anybody through the open door; "and I'm one of the kind that remembers my friends, no matter if my business is apt to suffer by it."

"No man's business ever suffered very long because he had the honor to do what was right," Texas assured him, his opinion of the barber rising a considerable degree.

"I sent for Malvina and told her to pass the tip on to that feller if she saw him."

"You're a sport, Nick!" said Fannie warmly.

Noggle suspended his operations, razor lifted high, to look at her, a cast of hauteur on his narrow face.

"Time for you to begin shavin', if you're ever goin' to, kid," said he.

"I shave with a hot wagon-tire," Fannie said, turning to study the cigarette pictures again.

"Yes, and there's one feller in this town I'd like to shave with my six-shooter!"