human
I'm not trying to kick, he said.
gpt
Guess you've got a pull on me and I have to work, but I'm a bit played out yet, and your partner piled more weight on me than I can stand.
human
Stop and take a smoke, said Andrew, handing him his tobacco pouch.
gpt
I don't feel very fresh, but I could carry those blankets. Let me have them.
human
I'll have to do that or leave them. It was a tough march I made with nothing to eat. He filled his pipe before he resumed:
gpt
There's no meanness in you.
human
Never mind that. What was Mappin to give you for this job?
gpt
Three dollars a day while I was out on it. Four hundred dollars when I'd staked the claim, if the specimens assayed right.
human
But how could he tell whether you would do the square thing by him?
gpt
It wouldn't be safe to do anything else. Supposing I'd gone round, looking for another buyer, he'd have had me doped or sandbagged before I'd made the sale. You can't fool Mappin. You have to put your job through when you deal with him.
human
It seems to me that you haven't made a success of this particular business,
gpt
I certainly haven't, the other admitted with a rueful air.
human
Your partner has me fixed--he's a smart man. There'll be no three dollars a day for mine when I go home.
gpt
You have struck bad luck, said Andrew with a smile.
human
I'm not sure you don't deserve it, but that's another matter. And now give me the blankets: we'll take the things along.