"Skip it," Mort advised smilingly. "It wouldn't be the right monicker, anyway." Mike muttered dourly, moving back behind the counter. Suddenly he stopped. "You see the morning paper?" he asked his partner in sudden recollection. "You see about that louse State's Att--" "Yeah, I read it," Mort cut him off. "It'll blow over, even if they get away with it. But they might not even get away with it. It's illegal." Mike beamed for the first time since I'd seen him that morning. Obviously he was pleased to have his own legal judgment upheld by his partner. "You think so? That's what I thought." He turned to me. "Isn't that what I thought?" he demanded. "Did you call for the morning line check on the tracks yet?" Mort asked, changing the subject. Mike shook his head. "I was waiting for a few phone bets to come in, first," he said. "How many come in so far?" Mort asked. Mike suddenly looked at his wrist watch and swore. "None!" he exclaimed. "None and it's already after ten!" Mort looked alarmed. "You mean the phone ain't rang with a bet since you been down?" "Only time the phone rung was with that practical joker, twicet. You heard 'em," Mike declared. "But by this time we generally have a couple dozen bets in from the phones!" Mort exclaimed. "This is bad. Whatcha think goes?" "Goes?" Mike exclaimed indignantly. "How should I know what goes?" Mort suddenly clapped his palm to his brow. "Maybe it's got somethin' to do with that news story!" "About the State's Attorney gonna check the phone lists?" Mike demanded. "Yeah." Mike thought this over. "No," he decided. "Couldn't be. Not so soon, yet. Tomorrow, maybe, but not so soon." Mort calmed down a little. "You're right there," he said. "It wouldn't be so soon." "Maybe this is a bad day," I broke in. "Maybe your customers just aren't betting this morning." Mort and Mike looked at me as if I were crazy, which possibly I was. Two dozen steady horse players don't all stop at once, if ever. Mike was as sorely troubled as Mort. "We got at least couple dozen bets acrosst the counter already this morning," he said. "But no phone bets." "Maybe the damn thing is _actually_ out of order," Mort groaned, glancing at the telephone. "Then how did we get them two calls from the joker?" Mike demanded. "No. That phone ain't no more outta order than I am." "You're right. I forgot those calls," Mort acknowledged. * * * * * And at that moment the telephone rang again. Mort looked at Mike. Mike looked at Mort. Both wet their lips. "Ordinary days that joker might be funny," Mort said. "But now I'm thinking this isn't an ordinary day. I'm thinking it's not as funny as I first thought." He crossed to the telephone booth, jerked the receiver from the hook, and bellowed into the mouthpiece. "Hello!" There was a brief pause in which someone said something to him from the other end of the wire.