"Ah, in self defense?" inquired the Colonel politely. "I thought I
noticed a hole in your shirt. Yes, pretty close work--between your arm
and your ribs. I've had a few close calls, myself."

"Yes, but what do you think," demanded Wiley impatiently, "of a girl
that will throw you down like that? I gave her the stock and to make it
worth the money she turned around and ditched me. And then she looked me
in the face and laughed!"

"If you had studied," observed the Colonel, "the Republic of Plato you
would have been saved your initial mistake; for it was an axiom among
the Greeks that in all things women are inferior, and never to be
trusted in large affairs. The great Plato pointed out, and it has never
been controverted, that women are given to concealment and spite; and
that in times of danger they are timid and cowardly, and should
therefore have no voice in council. In fact, in the ideal State which he
conceived, they were to be herded by themselves in a community dwelling
and held in common by the state. There were to be no wives and no
husbands, with their quarrels and petty bickerings, but the women were
to be parceled out by certain controllers of marriage and required to
breed men for the state. That is going rather far, and I hardly
subscribe to it, but I think they should be kept in their place."

"Well, they are cowardly, all right," agreed Wiley bitterly, "but that's
better than when they fight. Because then, if you oppose them, everybody
turns against you; and if you don't, they've got you whipped!"

"Put it there!" exclaimed the Colonel, striking hands with him
dramatically. "I swear, we shall get along famously. There is nothing I
admire more than a gentle, modest woman, an ornament to her husband and
her home; but when she puts on the trousers and presumes to question and
dictate, what is there left for a gentleman to do? He cannot strike her,
for she is his wife and he has sworn to cherish and protect her; and
yet, by the gods, she can make his life more miserable than a dozen
quarrelsome men. What is there to do but what I have done--to close up
my affairs and depart? If there is such a thing as love, long absence
may renew it, and the sorrow may chasten her heart; but I agree with
Solomon that it is better to dwell in a corner of the house-top than
with a scolding woman in a wide house."

"You bet," nodded Wiley. "Gimme the desert solitude, every time. Is
there any more whiskey in that bottle?"