The BackfireMonk and Ham took their two pets, Habeas Corpus and Chemistry. The chimpanzee and the pig accompanied their owners wherever they went.
The plane was fast—it was one of the combination land–and–sea planes—and they flew high on a compass course which brought them across Connecticut, Massachusetts and on into Maine at more than two hundred miles an hour.
Monk and Ham entertained each other with their perpetual quarrel.
“You bandy–legged baboon!” Ham got around to calling Monk when they entered Maine. “You awful freak of nature!”
“Want me to give you some advice about what’ll happen to you if you don’t lay off me?” Monk asked darkly.
“I’m all ears.”
“So’s a jackass,” Monk reminded.
The fact that no audience was around to witness their violence seemed to make no difference. A
