Johnny had stopped to shake the rain from his hat. He turned now to Madeiras. “Come on, Tony. What you grumblin’ about?”
Tony smiled. “I t’ought Scanlon say Gallup ees daid.”
“You sound disappointed. What you cookin’ up for old Aaron?”
“You forget my name, Johnny. I am a Madeiras. There ees lots of Madeiras.”
“Still thinkin’ ’bout that, eh? You best tell your people not to borrow no money from Aaron. He’s a money hound, boy. I tell yuh he knows those gents on the greenbacks personal.”
Tony tapped his chest. “Somet’ings we don’t forget, Johnny.”
They were upstairs by this time. Aaron scowled at the Basque, but he chose him in preference to Johnny.
“One of you is all I need,” the old man muttered. Johnny was defeated, but not stilled.
“They certainly keep you busy, don’t they, Aaron?” he asked provokingly.
“That’ll be enough talk from you, Johnny,” Gallup snapped. “If you want to stay in the room you keep still.”