Mystery and detective stories; Short stories; Single men -- Fiction; Valets -- Fiction
"He took to a cab," explained Tom, "and him and his partner give us a
fierce chase down the avenoo. O'Halloran shot the horse, and the cab was
all knocked to hell. The other fellow clawed out before we could nab
him. But we got this one all right."
"Hi, there, McCarthy!" shouted the sergeant to someone in the dim vast
beyond. "Come and open up." He examined McAllister with a degree of
interest. "Quite a swell guy!" he commented. "Them dress clothes must
have been real pretty onc't."
McAllister stood with soaked and rumpled hair, hatless and collarless,
his coat torn and splashed, and his shirt-bosom bloody and covered with
mud. He wanted to cry, for the first time in thirty-five years.
"Wot's yer name?" asked the sergeant.
The prisoner remained stiffly mute. He would have suffered anything
rather than disclose himself.
"Where do yer live?"
Still no answer. The sergeant gave vent to a grim laugh.
"Mum, eh?" He scribbled something in the blotter upon the desk before
him. Then he raised his eyes and scrutinized McAllister's face. Suddenly
he jumped to his feet.
[Illustration: "Do you know who you've caught?"]
"Well, of all the luck!" he exclaimed. "Do you know who you've caught?
It's Fatty Welch!"
IV
How he had managed to live through the night that followed McAllister
could never afterward understand. Locked in a cell, alone, to be sure,
but with no light, he took off his dripping coat and threw himself on
the wooden seat that served for a bed. It was about six inches too
short. He lay there for a few moments, then got wearily to his feet and
began to pace up and down the narrow cell. His legs and abdomen, which
had been the recipients of so much attention, pained him severely. The
occupant of the next apartment, awakened by our friend's arrival, began
to show irritation. He ordered McAllister in no gentle language to
abstain from exercise and go to sleep. A woman farther down the corridor
commenced to moan drearily to herself. Evidently sleep had made her
forget her sorrow, but now in the middle of the night it came back to
her with redoubled force. Her groans racked McAllister's heart. A stir
ran all along the cells--sounds of people tossing restlessly, curses,
all the nameless noises of the jail. McAllister, fearful of bringing
some new calamity upon his head, sat down. He had been shivering when he
came in; now he reeked with perspiration. The air was fetid. The only
ventilation came through the gratings of the door, and a huge stove just
beyond his cell rendered the temperature almost unbearable. He began to
throw off his garments one by one. Again he drew his knees to his chest
and tried to sleep, but sleep was impossible. Never had McAllister in
all his life known such wretchedness of body, such abject physical
suffering. But his agony of mind was even more unbearable. Vague
apprehensions of infectious disease floating in the nauseous air, or of
possible pneumonia, unnerved and tortured him. Stretched on the floor he
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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