"I guess she'll do all right to suit
you THIS time!"
"Well, whyn't you go ahead, then; you know so much!" And as Sam
raised his arm, Penrod again turned away his head and placed his
forefingers in his ears.
A pause followed.
"Why'n't you go ahead?"
Penrod, after waiting in keen suspense, turned to behold his
friend standing with his right arm above his head, his left hand
over his left ear, and both eyes closed.
"I can't pull the trigger," said Sam indistinctly, his face
convulsed as in sympathy with the great muscular efforts of other
parts of his body. "She won't pull!"
"She won't?" Penrod remarked with scorn. "I'll bet _I_ could pull
her."
Sam promptly opened his eyes and handed the weapon to Penrod.
"All right," he said, with surprising and unusual mildness. "You
try her, then."
Inwardly discomfited to a disagreeable extent, Penrod attempted
to talk his own misgivings out of countenance.
"Poor 'ittle baby!" he said, swinging the pistol at his side with
a fair pretense of careless ease. "Ain't even strong enough to
pull a trigger! Poor 'ittle baby! Well, if you can't even do that
much, you better watch me while _I_--"
"Well," said Sam reasonably, "why don't you go on and do it
then?"
"Well, I AM goin' to, ain't I?"
"Well, then, why don't you?"
"Oh, I'll do it fast enough to suit YOU, I guess," Penrod
retorted, swinging the big revolver up a little higher than his
shoulder and pointing it in the direction of the double doors,
which opened upon the alley.
Pages:
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72