A sickly grin began to spread over his own countenance, and all at once Tatpan's eyes began to bulge.
"Stampede!" he cried.
Stampede rubbed a hand over his smooth, prominent chin and nodded apologetically.
"It's me," he conceded.

"I had to do it.

It was give one or t'other up--my whiskers _or her_.

They went hard, too.

I flipped dice, an' the whiskers won.