to make it to the
house as soon as I can."
"Lord, boy!" The wide man began wiping a big paw before offering it.
"I'm glad to see you."
They shook hands. Worth repeated his request, but the garage man was
already unbuckling the spare, going to the work with a brisk efficiency
that contradicted his appearance.
Barbara sitting quietly beside me, we heard them talking at the back of
the machine, as the jack quickly lifted us and Worth went to it with
Capehart to unbolt the rim; a low-toned steady stream from the wide man,
punctuated now and then by a word from Worth.
"Yeh," Capehart grunted, prying off the tire. "Heard it m'self 'bout
noon--or a little after. Yeh, Ward's Undertaking Parlors."
"Undertaking parlors!" Worth echoed. Capehart, hammering on the spare,
agreed.
"Nobody in town that knowed what to do about it; so the coroner took
a-holt, I guess, and kinda fixed it to suit hisself. Did you phone ahead
to see how things was out to the house?"
"Tried to," Worth said. "The operator couldn't raise it."
"Course not." Capehart was coupling on the air. "Your chink's off every
Sunday--has the whole day--and the Devil only could guess where a
Chinaman'd go when he ain't working. Eddie Hughes ought to be on the job
out there--but would he?"
"Father still kept Eddie?"
"Yeh." The click of the jack and the car was lowering. "Eddie's lasted
longer than I looked to see him. Due to be fired any time this past
year. Been chasing over 'crost the tracks. Got him a girl there, one of
these cannery girls. Well, she's sort of married, I guess, but that
don't stop Eddie. 'F I see him, I'll tell him you want him."
They came to the front of the machine; Worth thrust his hand in his
pocket. Capehart checked him with,
"Let it go on the bill." Then, as Worth swung into his seat, Barbara
bent forward from behind my shoulder, the careless yellowish eyes that
saw everything got a fair view of her, and with a sort of subdued crow,
"Look who's here!" Capehart took hold of the upright to lean his square
form in and say earnestly, "While you're in Santa Ysobel, don't forget
that we got a spare room at our house."
"Next time," Barbara raised her voice to top the hum of the engine. "I'm
only here for over night, now, and I'm going down to Mrs. Thornhill's."
We were out in the street once more, leaving the cannery district on our
right, tucked away to itself across the railroad tracks, running on Main
Street to City Hall
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