“No, sir. Not when you lose it that way.”
“I’ve paid every day for the rent of it. It’s your risk.”
“No, sir,” I said. “If a fish broke it and it wasn’t your fault, that would be something else. You lost that whole outfit by carelessness.”
“The fish pulled it out of my hands.”
“Because you had the drag on and didn’t have the rod in the socket.”
“You have no business to charge for that.”
“If you hired a car and ran it off a cliff, don’t you think you’d have to pay for it?”
“Not if I was in it,” Johnson said.
“That’s pretty good, Mr. Johnson,” Eddy said. “You see it, don’t you, cap? If he was in it he’d be killed. So he wouldn’t have to pay. That’s a good one.”
I didn’t pay any attention to the rummy. “You owe two hundred and ninety-five dollars for that rod and reel and line,” I told Johnson.
“Well, it’s not right,” he said. “But if that’s the Way you feel about it why not split the difference?”
“I can’t replace it for under three hundred and sixty. I’m not charging you for the line. A fish like that could get all your line and it not be your fault. If there was any one here but a rummy they’d tell you how square I’m being with you. I know it seems like a lot of money but it was a lot of money when
