sake, gimme the doubt, bo! I'm human in more ways than tryin' to
see how much booze I kin lap up. It's a chance I want to start fresh.
This bumming around ain't getting me anything. I'm sick of it. You
gotta be learnt to do exhibition stuff, and I'm the guy that can learn
yuh. You'll want a mechanician to keep your motor in shape. I can
_make_ a motor, gimme the tools. You want somebody that knows the game
to kinda manage things. You're Skyrider Johnny, same as the boys at
the ranch calls yuh. Yon gotta have a flunkey, ain't yuh? I'm willin'
to be it. I'll change my name, so nobody needs to know it's Bland
Halliday. Or you can gimme a share in the net profits, and I'll keep
the name and make it pull things our way. They's no use talking, bo,
I've got the goods! The name Bland Halliday is a trademark for
flyin'--and never mind if it also stands for damfool. I'll brace up
and give yuh the best I got. Honest, that's what I want--a chance to
get on my feet agin. I'd ruther help you fly your plane than fly one
of my own. I'd run amuck agin if I owned anything I could raise money
on.

"If you think I tried to do you dirt, back there in the desert, bo,
you're wrong. Ab-so-lutely. I thought you was fixing to double-cross
me, and git away with the plane and leave me there. It got my
goat--I'll say it did--that desert stuff. So I hid the gas, so you
couldn't go off and leave me. But that's behind us. You can give me a
chance now to straighten up, and I can put you in the way to make big
money. You think it over, bo. They's no great hurry, and we can make
a flight now and see how she stacks up. Be a sport--go fill up the
tank and let's go."

Johnny ground the cigarette stub under his heel in the dirt, shrugged
his shoulders with a fine imitation of perfect indifference, and
yawned. He would think over Bland's idea. He did not, of course,
intend to fall for anything that did not look like good business, and
he was not at all anxious to have Bland for a partner. Indeed, having
Bland for a partner was about the last thing Johnny would ever expect
himself to do. Still, there was no harm in letting Bland down easy. A
flight or two, maybe, would give Johnny some good pointers. He had
learned much from Bland, in a very short time, he admitted readily to
himself. He could learn more, and he could let Bland go over the
motor. By that time he would maybe have a buyer. If not, he would
have time to deci