“You and Testament are about fifty-fifty,” says I. “He busted his
fork-handle on my head.”
“I’m gug-glad that the little birds didn’t get hurt,” says he. “Can’t
you hear ’em sing?”
I tore up my application on the way home. Magpie and Scenery are doing a
lot of figuring but they stop when I comes in.
“Did they swamp you with applications?” asks Magpie.
“I done very well,” says I, and then I says to Scenery, “What kind of a
sheriff are you to set here and let the city battle each other?”
“Is there discord up there?”
“Wild and free.”
“None of my business,” says Scenery. “I’m the sheriff of the county.
They’ve got a marshal, ain’t they?”
“Did have, but he’s resigned twenty-seven times today.”
“He ain’t got no guts,” says Magpie.
“Well, maybe he ain’t,” says I, “but if he has he’s taking good care of
them.”
Magpie digs into that bunch of applications and his eyes get plumb wild.
He slides his feet off the table and stares at me.
“Tell me about this discord up-town, Ike.”
I explains the whole thing to him and Scenery and they listens without
interrupting me once.
“Selling insurance is a cinch,” says I.
“Yes,” nods Magpie slow-like, “it must ’a’ been. You collected sixty
dollars, Ike. The whole sum of sixty dollars, and you imperiled us to
the amount of six thousand dollars!”
“What say?” squeaks Scenery.
“Likely put us six thousand dollars in the hole. What was you thinking
of, Ike?”
“Death--exclusively. I’m getting ghoulish as ----!”
“Maybe they won’t all die,” squeaks Scenery. “Maybe only half.”
“Three thousand!” groans Magpie.
“Say, how much money has the Legion got?” I asks.
“Three hundred, Ike--not counting this sixty.”
“Three hundred!” I gasps. “I put in three hundred----”
“Uh-huh,” nods Magpie. “That’s it.”
I looks at them and they seem to be looking at me more in sorrow than in
anger. I hears Magpie say--
“It is monstrous.”