This noonday as I sat on the veranda two young lads stopped by the
stone coping which borders this front yard, and conversed. One was
eager-looking and about eleven years old. The other was perhaps
thirteen and morose and he had a small rifle which he polished with a
bit of waste, not lifting his gaze as they talked.
Said the younger boy: ‘Say-Frank, I could ’a’ had that old shot-gun
off my dad if I’d ’a’ went after it to Rocker that time.’
‘Like hell you could,’ said Frank.
‘Say-Frank, you know that Winchester o’ Billy O’Rourke’s?--he made
six bull’s-eyes and one inside ring with it day ’fore yesterday.’
‘Like hell he did,’ said Frank.
‘Say-Frank, Mexicans and Indians can get a guy ev’ry time with a
long-distance rifle without taking aim through the sight.’
‘Like hell they can,’ said Frank.
‘Say-Frank, there’s a kid down on South Arizona that’s got a Colt
automatic that’ll hit without him aiming at all.’
‘Like hell there is,’ said Frank.
‘Say-Frank, you know them little brass machine-guns the militia’s
got?--the bores o’ them things ’re rifled just like this.’
‘Like hell they are,’ said Frank.
‘Say-Frank, my grandfather in Illinois ’s got a bullet in him he got
at the battle o’ Fredericksburg in the Civil War.’
‘Like hell he has,’ said Frank.
‘Say-Frank, it costs a hundred-thousand dollars to make a Krupp gun
and eighty dollars ev’ry time you fire it.’
‘Like hell it does,’ said Frank.
‘Say-Frank, it ain’t a felony to croak a burglar with a gun even if
he’s only breakin’ into somebody else’s house.’
‘Like hell it ain’t,’ said Frank.
‘Say-Frank, my mother goes huntin’, too--she can shoot rabbits and
ducks on the wing and once she got a deer with that big old .44 o’ my
Uncle Walt’s.’
‘Like hell she did,’ said Frank.
‘Say-Frank--listen, will you gimme your gun for my bicycle, both my
catcher’s gloves and four dollars when I get paid?’
‘Like hell I will,’ said Frank.
‘Say-Frank--listen, will you gimme it for my bicycle, my two
catcher’s gloves, four dollars when I get paid and my shepherd pup?’
‘Like hell I will,’ said Frank.
‘Say-Frank--listen,--and my artificial snake?’
‘Like hell,’ said Frank.
‘Say-Frank--listen,--and my half o’ Ernest’s camera?’
‘Like hell,’ said Frank.
‘Say-Frank--listen,--and my last year’s shin-guards?’
‘Like hell,’ said Frank.
‘Say-Frank--_listen_,--and my _this_ year’s shin-guards?’
‘Like _hell_,’ said Frank.
‘Say-Frank, come right down to it I don’t want a .22. If I get a gun
this year it’ll be a .32.’
‘Like he--’--
* * * * *
Which point I felt to be the too-note of the helliad, so I rose and
came into the house.
I felt replete with rhythm and with a sense of surprising human
attitudes remote from my own.
_Swift go my days_