human
They had an American flag in the dirt, stamping and spitting on it. And they told me to spit on it.
gpt
Oh, I know what you're wondering! he flared out.
human
Would I a-spit on it in the pinch? That's what's eating you. I'll answer. Straight out, brass tacks, I WOULD. Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
gpt
Hell!--I guess this neck of the woods knows Anthony Habert, and you can bank on it that it's never located his yellow streak. Sure, in the pinch, I'd spit on Old Glory. What the hell d'ye think I'm going on the streets for a night like this? Didn't I skin out of the Southern Hotel half an hour ago, where there are forty buck Americans, not counting their women, and all armed? That was safety. What d'ye think I came here for?--to rescue you?
human
Spit it out,
gpt
I'll tell you, Habert exploded.
human
It's Billy Boy. Fifty miles up country and twenty-thousand throat-cutting federals and rebels between him and me. D'ye know what that boy'd do, if he was here in Tampico and I was fifty miles up the Panuco? Well, I know. And I'm going to do the same--go and get him.
gpt
We're figuring on going up,
human
And that's why I headed here--Miss Drexel, of course?
gpt
Then the thing's to get started, Habert exclaimed, looking at his watch.
human
It's midnight now. We've got to get to the river and get a boat--