“Looks like a harmless place,” observed Hashknife.
“And not a heap of a lot of advantage over bein’ outside,” said Sleepy. “Any way, they look awful human.”
They walked around to the front door, clumped up the steps and knocked on the door. Honey Bee answered the knock by opening the door about six inches and peering out.
“We just wondered if yuh didn’t need a couple of good men to fix yore roof,” said Hashknife seriously.
Honey opened the door a little and peered out at them. He had never seen either of them before, but the lamplight illuminated their faces enough to show their grins.
“Fix the roof?” he said slowly. “Oh, yeah. Well, I’ll bet we do need help.”
He opened the door.
“C’mon in out of the wet.”
They shuffled the mud off their boots and came in. The two girls stood near the dining-room doorway, each of them holding a receptacle, looking curiously at Hashknife, who removed his dripping hat and grinned widely at them. Hashknife’s grin was irresistible. Honey grinned foolishly and shuffled his feet.
“My name’s Hartley,” said Hashknife. “This soakin’ wet object with me is named Stevens. He was sufferin’ from a bad tooth, and we went huntin’ a dentist in the rain.”