"Yes. Who is it?"
"Never min'. You must be deaf not to hear me callin' you all this time. Take that cott'n out o' your ears."
"I didn't know you could talk this way."
"You didn't? Well, you know now. Them's empty pipes, no standin' water, see? Fine t' talk. Oh, dammit to—"
The words are lost in the gurgle of rushing water. Presently the flow subsides, and the knocking is resumed. I bend over the privy.
"Hello, hello! That you, Aleck?"
"Git off that line, ye jabberin' idiot!" some one shouts into the pipe.
"Lay down, there!"
"Take that trap out o' the hole."
"Quit your foolin', Horsethief."