Dirty was hurt. This was not according to Hoyle. Two more words and no self-respecting "gent" could refuse to look toward Wayback through a glass—and certainly not alone. The weather was already too cold to sit fishing for such fish as this; and here was one who had swallowed the bait, rejecting the hook.
"Why, stranger, I been there," explained Dirty, in aggrieved remonstrance.
"How long since you been there? Not since two-at-once, was you? Didn’t it used to be at Drigg’s Worry? Didn’t it?"
Snow lost his balance. He nodded in open-mouthed silence.
"Course it was—at Drigg’s Worry—and now it’s way back," and with a grim chuckle the stranger pressed in his knees and loped on down the trail to the Sweet-Echo Hotel.
Dirty stared after him. "Who in hell’s that?" he asked himself in profane astonishment. "It ’s never Black Jack—too old; an’ it ain’t Lucky Jones—too young. He sure said ’two-at-once.’ Two-at-once: I ain’t heard that in more ’n twenty years." His air-dried throat compelled inward attention and he got up from his box and turned and looked at it. "Used to be at Drigg’s Worry, did n’t it?" he mimicked. "Did n’t it? An’ now it’s way back." He kicked the box viciously against the tavern wall. "D—n yer! This yer blasted town ’s gettin’ too smart," and he proceeded to make the only change of base he ever undertook during the day, by stamping across the bridge to the "Why-Not."
The door of the I-Call opened and a man appeared. He glanced around carelessly until he noticed the box, which he viewed with an appearance of lively interest, coming outside and walking around it at a respectful distance. "Huh!" he grunted. Having satisfied himself of its condition he drawlingly announced it for the benefit of those inside. "Dirty ’s busted his chair," he informed, and turned to look curiously after Pop Snow, who was at that moment slamming the door of the Why-Not behind him.
Through the open door three other men came out. They all looked at the box. One of them stopped and turned it over with his thumb. "Kicked it," he said, and they all looked across at the Why-Not, considering. A roar from behind them smote upon their ears like a mine blast: "Shut that door!" With one accord they turned and trooped back again.