"Helluva place to stick a guy," mused Billy, "in wit a bunch
o' man-eatin' rats. Hey!" and he turned his face toward the
door. "You, Eddie! Come here!"
Eddie approached the door and listened.
"Wot do you want?" he asked. "None o' your funny
business, you know. I'm from Shawnee, Kansas, I am, an'
they don't come no slicker from nowhere on earth. You
can't fool me."
Shawnee, Kansas! Eddie Shorter! The whole puzzle was
cleared in Billy's mind in an instant.
"So you're Eddie Shorter of Shawnee, Kansas, are you?"
called Billy. "Well I know your maw, Eddie, an' ef I had such
a maw as you got I wouldn't be down here wastin' my time
workin' alongside a lot of Dagos; but that ain't what I started
out to say, which was that I want a light in here. The damned
rats are tryin' to chaw off me kicks an' when they're done wit
them they'll climb up after me an' old man Villa'll be sore as
a pup."
"You know my maw?" asked Eddie, and there was a
wistful note in his voice. "Aw shucks! you don't know her--
that's jest some o' your funny, slicker business. You wanna git
me in there an' then you'll try an' git aroun' me some sort o'
way to let you escape; but I'm too slick for that."
"On the level Eddie, I know your maw," persisted Billy.
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