From the time I came to
this town I felt prejudiced against Red Shirt. Once I had thought of him
in a different light, taking him for a fellow kind-hearted and
feminished. His kindness, however, began to look like anything but
kindness, and as a result, I have been getting sick of him. So no matter
how he might glory himself in logical grandiloquence, or how he might
attempt to out-talk me in a head-teacher-style, I don't care a snap. One
who shines in argument is not necessarily a good fellow, while the other
who is out-talked is not necessarily a bad fellow, either. Red Shirt is
very, very reasonable as far as his reasoning goes, but however graceful
he may appear, he cannot win my respect. If money, authority or
reasoning can command admiration, loansharks, police officers or college
professors should be liked best by all. I cannot be moved in the least
by the logic by so insignificant a fellow as the head teacher of a
middle school. Man works by preference, not by logic.
"What you say is right, but I have begun to dislike the raise, so I
decline. It will be the same if I think it over. Good by." And I left
the house of Red Shirt. The solitary milky way hung high in the sky.
CHAPTER IX.
When I went to the school, in the morning of the day the farewell dinner
party was to be held, Porcupine suddenly spoke to me;
"The other day I asked you to quit the Ikagins because Ikagin begged of
me to have you leave there as you were too tough, and I believed him.
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