to the conclusion that I've more solid luck than any man I know intimate. To say nothing of my commanding a rust and putty kerosine can like this old tramp at the age of thirty, when you, that can lick me in a scrap, have to be my mate though you're older, didn't I come out of that little affair at Aguilas with flying colours?"
"You came out with a hole in the funnel that you had to pay for yourself," said Ward. "I don't see where your luck came in."
"Don't you see it might have been worse, you ass?" cried Spink irritably. "But that's nothing. What I've been pondering over chiefly is my very remarkable luck in never having been caught, for a permanency, by any of the ladies that have been after me."
"They haven't lost much," said Ward discourteously. "And I reckon that you are mistook when you think you're that enticing that women hankers to drag you in by the hair of your head and kiss you by force."
"I never said so," replied Spink; "but the fact remains that I'm not married."
"You're a selfish beast, Spink, and I sincerely hope you'll be married before you're through," said Ward.
