Adventure, August 3, 1919 — page 102: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Q2 “Nix! Nix! None of that stuff!’ O’Toole bawls out, and the man reaches for his hip pocket, his little eyes blazin’. “Hold on! Don’t draw, for you might have to shoot!” says Degraw as cool as you please. “I may have some up at the house.” He went after it, and he was gone: some time. The prince motioned O’Toole to come outside, and I could see him talkin’ earnestly to him in the light from the doorway. I conjectured that he was ad- visin’ him to act with discretion. Well, sor, if I could have been whisked out o’ that and over to old Ireland by givin’ up ten years o’ my life, I’d gladly have done it! Every time O’Toole’s eye rested on me, my insides froze—and ’twas ahot night, d’ye mind! When Mr. Degraw came back, he had a tumbler half full of some white stuff that he hands to O’Toole, and says he: “Here’s your soul-poisoner, and may you choke! I had to steal it from under old Duy Foster’s bed while he was asleep. If he’d woke up, he would have bored me!” O’Toole takes it, and says he: “None of your tricks! Are you sure you're not trying to slip over some of that turpentine flavorin’ or French perfume like you did the last time!” “Taste it, you rattlesnake!” says Degraw. O'Toole tasted it, smiled and passed it to O’Keefe. “Tis the real old safe-blowin’ juice—and fresh!”’ says he. ‘‘Mix the cocktails—and for all hands, d’ye mind.” Then they all began to protest that they didn’t drink that deadly stuff, but O’Keefe pulls out a pistol, sor, and, when the drinks was mixed, they drank them without objectin’. O’Toole shook his head with his mouth wide open, and says he, ‘‘Boys, if I gritted my teeth, I’d blast my jaw off! Now it’s whisky and other soft stuff that Pll have to stick to tonight. O’Keefe, I'll play you a game of pool, though my hands are raw from drivin’ them fiery, untamed steeds.” With that they went to playing pool, me yratchin’ them, and divvle a one of ’em was showin’ any effects from drinkin’ the stuff, sor! The prince whispered to De- graw, and he came to me and told me to water some whisky in a bottle and serve these two with it as they were like to make, trouble. I done that same, and the very Adventure next time they took a drink and looked hard at me. My nord a to ice, sor! O'Toole put his hand across O’Keefe’s chest, and says he: “Hold on, John, no killin’! Mabbe the boy has a mother as you had onct.”’ ‘Since when has a mere mother—or even a mother-in-law, for the matter o’ that— stopped you or me, Petey O’Toole! He’s watered our booze!” _ The whole crowd threw themselves on them, and Degraw told them I'd given them whisky out of the bottle reserved for the man with delirium trimmins that was boarding there. Finally O’Keefe calmed down and went back to the pool-table. The prince called on the band for music, I could see that there was bad blood between the two, and I never took my eyes off them, sor. In the midst of the music they bape to quarrel over the game, callin’ each other mortal bad names» Just as the band stopped playin’, O’Keefe shook his fist in O’Toole’s face, and says he— “You half-portion of a Hackensack coprolite!”’ I mind the word well. O’Toole stepped back, pulled out a revolver and with a yell fired straight at O’Keefe’s stomach, not a yard away! He fell without a word—just crumpled up, dropped on his face, turned over and lay still there beside the pool- table. eee] EVEN in that horrible moment, “al sor, I noticed that all of them turned and looked at me instead of at the murderer. That is, all except the German band, who were too frightened to move. O’Toole dropped the pistol and darted out Into the darkness, but-the crowd fell over each other to get out after him, I did not feel that it was my duty to join them, as I was a foreigner, don’t you know, but I would have been of no service as I was badly funked. I suppose I was as pale as the band- leader, who sat staring at the corpse in horror. One man soon returned and asked me where he could get a rope to hang the murderer with when they caught him. Before I could reply, he took down Mrs. Degraw’s beaver cape that hung on a peg on the wall and covered up the head and shoulders of the dead man in a solemn and reverent manner that quite touched me, sor- ~~ comicbooks.com —