CHAPTER VIII.
THE PARTNERS.
It was fully five minutes before Carrots succeeded in deciphering the letter brought by Teenie, and then he pretended to treat the matter as a huge joke.
"Why, Skip must have spent pretty nigh the whole day gettin' up that thing," he said, as he handed the missive to Teddy. "I wonder what he made the moon there for?"
"Moon?" Teenie repeated. "Why, he told me it was a skull, with a dagger underneath it and with bones on the sides, same's pirates have on their flags; an' the two coffins was for you an' the other feller."
"Who are the two duffers down there at the bottom? A couple of pirates?"
"No; they're the committee," Teenie explained. "I s'pose one of 'em's Skip, an' the other's Sid."
"So Sid's taken a hand in this; he's gone to drivin' boys out er the town, has he? Well, Sid's a nice plum to do anything of the kind! 'T isn't more'n a month ago since he was gettin' right down on his knees, coaxin' Skip to let him stay to black boots. It would be a mighty long while before I'd ask Skip Jellison to 'low me to do anything!"
"Them two are awful thick now. Kind er stand in pardners, I reckon. Sid says he's goin' to run Fulton Ferry on the Brooklyn side, an' Skip's to take care of this end, as soon as they drive the feller from Saranac away."