" Swallowing hastily, he continued: "I want it, an' I've come to
the right place for it, too. Hand it over, David."
"Dod blast it, I tell you I ain't got it!" retorted Dave, beginning
to suspect that something was radically wrong. "I ain't seen it, an' I
don't know nothing about it."
Hopalong wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "Well, then, Tom or Art does,
all right."
"No, they don't, neither; I watched 'em leave an' they rode straight
out of town, an' went the other way, same as they allus do." Dave was
getting irritated. "Look here, you; are you joking or drunk, or both, or
is that animule of yourn really missing?"
"Huh!" snorted Hopalong, trying some new prunes. "'Ese prunes er purty
good," he mumbled, in grave congratulation. "I don' get prunes like 'ese
very of'n."
"I reckon you don't! They ought to be good! Cost me thirty cents a
half-pound," Dave retorted with asperity, anxiously shifting his feet.
It didn't take much of a loss to wipe out a day's profits with him.
"An' I don't reckon you paid none too much for 'em, at that," Mr.
Cassidy responded, nodding his head in comprehension. "Ain't no worms in
'em, is there?"
"Shore there is!" exploded Dave. "Plumb full of 'em!"
"You don't say! Hardly know whether to take a chance with the worms or
try the apricots. Ain't no worms in them, anyhow.
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