One night he was picked up almost at the point of death in one of the toughest districts in New York. He had been stabbed. He was taken to the French Hospital, and a young reporter called the next morning to get a story. Siki leaped out of bed and, clad only in his pajamas, slung the reporter over his shoulder and ran out into the street. Hailing a taxi, he dropped the reporter into the gutter and drove home. Soon he was up to his usual tricks again, but his enemies were closing in. One night he walked into a night club drunk, and began to smash it up. The next morning he was found in the street with an ice-pick driven into his chest. The police arrested his assailant, but Siki refused to press the charge. His time was short now; the curtain was about to ring down. On a winter’s night, when gales of icy wind whipped the narrow canyons of Hell’s Kitchen, two men lurked in the shadows. It was just past midnight, and the street was deserted by all who valued their lives. Siki entered the street muffled in a heavy overcoat. He was unsteady on his feet and sang snatches of songs. Suddenly two automatics barked, and the Senegalese pitched forward—dead. They found him the next morning where he had fallen, and within an hour he made the front pages of the newspapers for the last time. BOOK THREE [Illustration] [Illustration: 13] A STORY OF INTRIGUE Hundreds of thousands of persons annually visit Madison Square Garden, America’s famous sports center, without ever giving a thought to the story behind the building. It is a story of intrigue in which those who conceived the idea and started the negotiations for the gigantic structure were pushed into the background by the world’s greatest promoter, Tex Rickard. Once Rickard had all the necessary data placed in his lap, he maneuvered those whose brain child it was right out of the picture and proceeded on his own. Today the new Madison Square Garden is known in every nook and corner of the world where sports are followed as the “House that Tex Built,” but if proper credit were given to those who planned it and negotiated for its erection.... Well, here’s the story. It was the year 1923. America had developed one of the great skaters in the history of the country. His name was Bobby McLean. Bobby had come from the Mid-West, where he had cleaned up in racing competition. At the invitation of the Swedish government, he went abroad to take part in international races at Stockholm, and later in other parts of Europe. He gained fame and fortune abroad. His name had headlined the sports pages both in Europe and America.