One would certainly expect him to hurry to the city of his desires and take his pleasure there.

Johnny decided that Bland must still have an eye on the plane.
That he was secretly envious of Bland as an aviator did not add to his mental comfort.

Bland could speak with slighting familiarity of "the game," and assume a boredom not altogether a pose.

Bland had drunk deep and satisfyingly of the cup which Johnny, to save his honor, must put away from him after a tantalising sip or two.

Not until Bland had said, "Wait till you've been in the game as long as I have," had Johnny realized to the full just what it would mean to him to part with his airplane without being accepted by the government as an aviator.
At the Rolling R, when his conscience debt to Sudden pressed so heavily, he had figured very nicely and had found the answer to his problem without much trouble.