"What's your line?" from Moore, pouring more whiskey.
"Anything from heavin' coal to sellin' liquah and operatin' a crap game, and a little 'skin' when the crowd's right."
"I see," said the other thoughtfully, then added: "And your friends?"
"This lad here is going to school to learn how to get 'his without workin'; while the other boy," pointing to Wyeth, "is already doin' it."
"Well, men," began Moore, as he opened a fresh half pint that Legs paid for, "as I said, 'f you're wise, Effingham is the best town in the country for pickin's. It is, as you should know, the greatest industrial center in the south."
"So I have understood," interposed Wyeth, waiving the bartender's invitation aside; "I am anxious to learn something, everything about the town, and the colored people."
"Are they employed in considerable numbers at the mines, steel mills and furnaces about here, of which the city possesses so many?"
"Thousands upon thousands," he was informed.
"And how are they paid? From a personal standpoint, I'd be glad to know?" went on Wyeth.
"All kinds of wages, and at various times. Some receive as low as a dollar and a quarter, while others make as high as seven and eight; but the average wage runs from a dollar fifty, to three dollars."