Gradually he became calmer.
"Tell you what: the only thing that lets you out, Dicky, is the way Van Dyne and Blakesley did, in turn, when I got them there."
He spoke savagely, but I brightened a little.
"Oh!" I said. "Didn't they recognize you, either?"
Billings' snort made me jump.
"Recognize!" he bellowed. "They went back, mad as hell!"
"By Jove!" I said soothingly.
"That's not all," continued Billings grimly. "I was so sure it was a put-up job, some asinine, fool joke, I wrote a cautious note to the governor. After a lot of pleading, I got the fools to send it. He came."
Billings paused dramatically.
"Oh, yes, he came!" he went on, fixing me with an excited eye. "And when I staggered forward and did the prodigal son act on his neck, he handed me a punch that jolted off his silk tile. Went straight up in the air with the whole bunch down there and contracted to do things for them that will keep him active for a year. Threatened to have me sent up for forgery—this is my own father now, mind you—forgery of my own name! Huh!"