Within four minutes the mate was out of the booth. He came over and took a seat at the counter a few stools up and nodded at Rick. "Thanks, boy."
"That's all right," Rick said. He had to make a pretense of phoning now. Well, he could call Spindrift and tell his mother they would be home for lunch. He hadn't been sure how long the hearing would take when they left.
He went into the booth and closed the door. The phone had no dial. Evidently Seaford, like Whiteside, had no dial system. He started to pick up the receiver and inspiration struck him. If he could imitate the mate . . .
He tried to imitate Chick's nasal tone and thought he did pretty well. He tried again, and it sounded a little better. Anyway, he thought, there was nothing to lose by trying. If Seaford had more than one operator on the town switchboard, which was unlikely because of the size of the town, it wouldn't work, anyway. Or, if there were two and he got the wrong one it wouldn't work.
His hand shook slightly as he lifted the receiver and dropped in his nickel.
"Number, please?" the operator said sweetly.
Rick struggled to imitate the mate's voice. "Say, I have to talk to that number again. Something I forgot to say."
"What number was that, sir?" the operator asked.
Rick took a chance, based on the number of bells he had heard.
"That New York number," he said. "Forget now what it is. Ain't you got it written down there?"