“Oh, they’ll be back,” said Timmy grimly. “For me!” He lunged back to the table and took up his hand of cards with grim determination.
“Atta boy!” Skippy said. “Gee, Timmy, don’t get down again, huh? Devlin can’t make you do nothin’ you don’t wanta. You’ll soon find out what he’s gonna tell you to do. Beat it after that; soon’s you get the chance.”
“Yeah, some chance it’ll be takin’, I bet!” Timmy exclaimed. “I got a hunch an’ that’s all there’s to it. But I ain’t lettin’ myself go off the handle no more—I wanta keep what nerve I got to tell Devlin where he’s gettin’ off if he springs any killin’ jobs on me.”
“That goes double,” Nickie said, suddenly very serious. “I don’t like the look in Devlin’s eye, he looks crazy b’lieve me, an’ Timmy’s right bout needin’ all his nerve. He’ll need it—we’ll all need it when the time comes. An’ lissen, guys, maybe we’ll wanta know how we make out afterwards, hah? What d’ye say we dope out where we’ll write letters to, hah?”
Shorty laughed. “Eet is funny, Neeckie. You talk lak that when mebbe we all see each other again some place out west together, eh? Ees that not what you thought when we come here, yes?”
“Yeah—I thought a lotta things when I come here,” Nickie answered. “That’s why I come. But I ain’t so sure about Devlin sendin’ us somewheres out west where we’ll meet—see! He ain’t said nothin’, so I guess it means we say so long when we blow here. Anyways, we land some place; there ain’t no sayin’ there won’t be somewheres we’ll go, so I say let’s write an’ tell each other how we shook Devlin or how we didn’t. Now I got a aunt where you guys can write me in New York. After I get fixed wherever I go, I’ll tip her off an’ she’ll send me the letters.”
“I got a aunt in Glens Falls,” Timmy said brightening.
“I got a aunt in New York, too!” Skippy added. They all laughed at the coincidence, but Shorty and Biff broke into the conversation eagerly.
“I got Pop an’ Mom in New York!” Shorty announced proudly.
“Me, too!” said Biff. “We leeve next door Shorty an’ I bet they all crazy we don’t show at Delafield.”