Traffic in Souls: A Novel of Crime and Its Cure — John Shaqi
Traffic in Souls: A Novel of Crime and Its CureBall, Eustace Hale
General
Traffic in Souls: A Novel of Crime and Its Cure
Ball, Eustace Hale
Crime -- Fiction
"Say, bo. Do you recollect gittin' a little present? Well, listen,
dere's a Christmas tree of dem presents comin' to you ef ye tries any
more of dis stuff. I'm in _right_ in dis district, don't fergit it.
Ye tink's I'm going to de Island? Wipe dat off yer memory, too. W'y,
say, I kin git yer buttons torn off and yer shield put in de scrap heap
by de Commish if I says de woid down on Fourteenth Street, at de
bailiwick."
"I know who was back of the assault on me, Monk, and let me tell you
I'm going to get the man who threw it. Now, you get!"
Burke raised his right hand carelessly to the side of his collar, as he
pressed up close to the gangster. The big man at his side came nearer,
but as the policeman did not raise his club, which swung idly by its
leather thong, to his left wrist, he was as unprepared for what
happened as Jimmie.
"Why you----" began the latter, with at least six ornate oaths which
out-tarred the vocabulary of any jolly, profane tar who ever swore.
Burke's hand, close to his own shoulder, and not eight inches away from
Jimmie's leering jowl, closed into a very hard fist. Before the tough
knew what had hit him that nearby fist had sent him reeling into the
gutter from a short shoulder jab, which had behind it every ounce of
weight in the policeman's swinging body.
Jimmie lay there.
The other man's hand shot to his hip pocket, but the officer's own
revolver was out before he could raise the hand again. Army practice
came handy to Burke in this juncture.
"Keep your hand where it is," exclaimed the policeman, "or you'll get a
bullet through it."
"You dog, I'll get you sent up for this," muttered the big man.
But with his revolver covering the fellow, Burke quickly "frisked" the
hip pocket and discovered the bulk of a weapon. This was enough.
"I fixed the Monk. Now, you're going up for the Sullivan Law against
carrying firearms. You're number one, with me, in settling up this
score!" Jimmie had shown signs of awakening from the slumber induced
by Burke's sturdy right hand.
He pulled himself up as Burke marched his man around the corner. The
Monk hurried, somewhat unsteadily, to the edge of the fruit stand and
looked round it after the two figures.
"Do youse know dat cop, ye damn Ginnie?" muttered Jimmie.
"Signor, no!" replied the fruit dealer, nervously. "I never saw heem
on dis beat before to-day, wenna he buy de apple from me."
Jimmie turned--discretion conquering temporary vengeance, and started
in the opposite direction. He stopped long enough to say, as he rubbed
his bruised jaw, "Well, Wop, ye ain't like to see much more of 'im
around dis dump neither, an' ye ain't likely to see yerself neither, if
ye do too much talkin' wid de cops."
Jimmie hurried up the street to a certain rendezvous to arrange for a
rescue party of some sort. In the meantime Officer 4434 led an
unwilling prisoner to the station house, one hand upon the man's right
arm. His own right hand gripped his stick firmly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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