"Bangs was into me a little. Old Rile paid up for him and then got it in his turn—with his name down for a hundred on my books. Harris and Billie Warren paid up for Rile. Now just whoever do you surmise will pay up for you?"
"Me?" Carson inquired. "Why, I ain't dead. I'm clear alive."
"So was they when I charged those accounts," Brill said. "But it looks like stormy days ahead. I sell for cash."
"I'm not on this death list, if that's what you're referring to," Carson announced.
"But it's easy to get enrolled," Brill said. "Your name's liable to show up on it any time. Seen Lang in the last few days?"
"Not in the last few months," Carson stated. "Nor yet in the next few years. He's no friend of mine."
"I sort of remember you used to be right comradely," Brill remarked.
"That's before I really knowed Lang intimate," Carson said. "He didn't strike me as such a bad sort at first; but now he's going too strong. Folks are getting plum down on him."
"What you mean is that folks who used to be friendly are growing spooky about getting their own names on that list," Brill said. "That's what has opened their eyes."
"Maybe so," the thirsty man confessed. "But anyway, I'm through."