"Here's a kind of civilian who is not inferior to army
men," he thought. "Perhaps he is even superior." He would not have said
this aloud, but he thought it.
"How de do, Joe?" said Cleary, shaking hands. "That was a great fight.
You knocked him out clean. Here's my friend, Colonel Jinks, the hero of
San Diego and the pacifier of the Moritos."
Corker nodded condescendingly.
"We enjoyed the fight very much," said Sam, not altogether at his ease.
"It reminded me of my own experience at East Point."
"It was a good fight," said Corker, "and a damned fair one too. I'd
like to punch the heads of those fellers who cried 'fake.' It was as
fair as fair could be, and Dandy and me was as evenly matched as two
peas. I always believe in takin' a feller of your size, and I did."
"That wasn't the way at East Point," said Cleary. "They didn't take
fellows of their size there."
"That's against our rules anyway," said Corker.
"It must be a civilian rule," said Sam, beginning to feel his
superiority again. "The military rule as we were taught it at East
Point was to take a smaller man if you could, and you see, the army
does just the same thing. We tackled Castalia and then the Cubapines,
and they weren't of our size. We don't fight the powerful countries."
"That's queer," said Corker, drinking a lemonade.
"It's perfectly right," said Sam. "When a man's in the right, and of
course we always are, if he fights a man of his size or one bigger than
he is, he gives the wrong a chance of winning, and that is clearly
immoral.
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