"One man can't work on that alone," Jennings interrupted in a surly tone. "I can't do anything on it until that other electrician comes in."
"Get Smaltz to help you."
"Smaltz! What does he know. Him holding out for them four-be-five cross-arms shows what he knows."
"Sometimes I think he knows a good deal more than he lets on."
"Don't you think it," Jennings sneered. "He don't know half as much as he lets on. Jest one of them rovin' windjammers pickin' up a little smatterin' here and there. Run a power-house in the Coeur d'Alenes. Huh--what's that! This here feller that I got comin' is a 'lectrical genius. He's worked with me on drudgers, and I know."
Glaring at the victorious carpenter who, being human, sent back a grin, Jennings went to the power-house, mumbling to the last that "four-be-five's" would never hold.
"I think I go now I think."
"Toy!"
The old Chinaman at his elbow was dressed for travelling in a clean but unironed shirt; and his shoes had been newly hobbed. His round, black hat was pulled down purposefully as far as his ears would permit. All his possessions were stuffed into his best overalls with the legs tied around his waist and the pair of attached suspenders worn over his shoulders so that at first glance he presented the startling appearance of carrying a headless corpse pick-a-back.
Bruce looked at him in astonishment. He would as soon have thought of thus suddenly losing his right arm.
The Chinaman's yellow face was impassive, his snuff-brown eyes quite blank.
"I go now," he repeated.
"But Toy--" There are a special set of sensations which accompany the announcement of the departure of cooks, Bruce felt distinctly when his heart hit his boots. To be without a cook just now was more than an annoyance--it was a tragedy--but mostly it was the Chinaman's ingratitude that hurt.
"I go," was the stubborn answer.
Bruce knew the tone.
"All right--go," he answered coldly, "but first I want you to tell me why."
A flame of anger leaped into Toy's eyes; his whole face worked; he was stirred to the centre of his being.
"She kick on me!" he hissed. "She say I no can cook!"
Instantly Bruce understood. Jennings's bride had been guilty of the one unforgivable offense. His own eyes flashed.
"Tell her to keep out of the kitchen."
Toy shook his head.
"I no likee her; I no stay."
"Won't you stay if I ask you as a favor?"
The Chinaman reiterated in his stubborn monotone: "She kick on my glub; I no likee her; I no stay."