r Stiffner was a
man that couldn't stand being had.

The first thing that Bill said when we got safe into camp was: "I told
you that we'd pull through all right. You need never be frightened when
you're travelling with me. Just take my advice and leave things to me,
and we'll hang out all right. Now-."

But I shut him up. He made me mad.

"Why, you--! What the sheol did _you_ do?"

"Do?" he says. "I got away with the swags, didn't I? Where'd they be now
if it wasn't for me?"

Then I sat on him pretty hard for his pretensions, and paid him out for
all the patronage he'd worked off on me, and called him a mug straight,
and walked round him, so to speak, and blowed, and told him never to
pretend to me again that he was a battler.

Then, when I thought I'd licked him into form, I cooled down and soaped
him up a bit; but I never thought that he had three climaxes and a
crisis in store for me.

He took it all pretty cool; he let me have my fling, and gave me time to
get breath; then he leaned languidly over on his right side, shoved his
left hand down into his left trouserpocket, and brought up a boot-lace,
a box of matches, and nine-and-six.

As soon as I got the focus of it I gasped:

"Where the deuce did you get that?"

"I had it all along," he said, "but I seen at the pub that you had the
show to chew a lug, so I thought we'd save it--nine-and-sixpences ain't
picked up every day."

Then he leaned over on his left, went down into the other pocket, and
came up with a piece of tobacco and half-a-sovereign.

My eyes bulged out.

"Where the blazes did you get that from?" I yelled.

"That," he said, "was the half-quid you give me last night. Half-quids
ain't to be thrown away these times; and, besides, I had a down on
Stiffner, and meant to pay him out; I reckoned that if we wasn't sharp
enough to take him down we hadn't any business to be supposed to be
alive. Anyway, I guessed we'd do it; and so we did--and got a bottle of
whisky into the bargain."

Then he leaned back, tired-like, against the log, and dredged his upper
left-hand waistcoat-pocket, and brought up a sovereign wrapped in a
pound note. Then he waited for me to speak; but I couldn't. I got my
mouth open, but couldn't get it shut again.

"I got that out of the mugs last night, but I thought that we'd want it,
and might as well keep it. Quids ain't so easily picked up, nowadays;
and, besides, we need stuff more'n Stiffner does, and so--"

"And