human
Oh, by the way, Nick, are you really in earnest about that fool suit you've filed against me?
gpt
You mean about my Chiny pigtail?
human
About the Chinaman's queue, yes.
gpt
You bet I am. That blamed thing's cost me a whole heap more'n it's worth to anybody except me and the Chinaman. I reckon he's sold it to me for that five hundred dollars. It's mine, and I mean to have it. I sure reckon I naturalized one heathen when I took that scalp. There's one bias-eyed fan-tanner that won't pull his freight for Chiny as soon as he gets his pockets full of good American money. I reckon I was a public benefactor when I sheared that washee-washee, and I deserve the pig tail as a decoration for my services. No, sir, the scalp's mine, by every count you can mention, and you'll have to give it up.
human
Is the queue all you want?
gpt
If that's all you've got that belongs to me.
human
Well, then, take it, and stop your jackassing about the fool thing,
gpt
The hell you say!
human
Yes, here it is. And I call these gentlemen to witness that I offer it to you freely and without any conditions.
gpt
It was just like the blamed whelp, he complained to Judge Harlin,
human
Harry Gillam was the only man in Las Plumas who wished, or dared to wear a silk hat, and his taste in the matter of headgear gave constant edge to Ellhorn's feeling of contempt and aversion.
gpt
I'm blamed sorry for it, Nick went on,
human
I guess he was buffaloed, he said later, as he finished giving an account of the affair to Emerson Mead.
gpt
It was the meanest sort of a backdown you ever saw, but it just showed the fellow's gait. A man with no more grit than that had better go back east, where he can wear a stove-pipe hat without lookin' like a fool, which he sure is.
human
What made you so determined to have the thing, Nick?
gpt
Well, he said slowly, and there were signs of the Irish roll in his voice,