Argosy, Vol. 118, No. 2 — page 40: what you’re looking at

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

190 be botherin’. with no small wygers like that. Would you mind phonin’ to a bondin’ com- pany,” I ask McGlynn, “ and havin’ them send some one here to—”’ “How about me?” growls Cassidy. “ Ain’t you goin’ to furnish a bond?” ““T s’y, old deah,” I laugh at him, d’ye think I’d be awfter comin’ all the w’y from Orstrylia if I didn’t mean business? I don’t require no bond.” “ That’s right, Bill,’ one of the reporters tells Cassidy. “He told you something then.” “Aw, all right,’ grumbles “We'll fix the bond up later.” “We will not!” I tell him, and I hold the whole game up while McGlynn gets a guy over from a bondin’ company and a bond of five thousand bucks is fixed up pay- able to me if Regan doesn’t appear in the ring on the night of the all-star show. I shickered somethin’ fierce when Cassidy had to shell out some thirty-six bucks to pay for the bond. After that’s done, me and Cassidy ex- change some pleasantries for the benefit of the reporters; then we sign the articles of agreement and beat it. . “That was a good play—that bon thing,’ says Cassidy when we get into the hall, “but why did you make me go through with it? Cripe! There’s no sense in chuckin’ away over thirty-six bucks!” “ The reporters will believe it’s all on the level now,” I tell him. “If they hadn’t seen you sign that bond they might have suspected it was all bunk.” “Maybe you're right,” agrees Cassidy doubtful-like, sighin’ for the lost thirty-six. Cassidy and Regan start off immediately Cassidy. ' for Point Pleasant, New Jersey, where John- € ny De Foe, the old-time lightweight, has a bungalow. It’s reported to the newspapers that that’s the trainin’-grounds Mike Regan has picked. The next afternoon me and O’Mara fol- low. We drive up to the house next door to Johnny De Foe’s in an automobile. With us is three or four gunmen that Id hired to pose as O’Mara’s sparrin’-partners. Cas- sidy and Regan are sittin’ on the porch of Johnny’s bungalow when our car stops. I thought Regan would drop dead. He flops THE ARGOSY. back in his chair with his eyes poppin’ out of their sockets. He waves his hands weak- like in our direction, and tries to talk; but the words won’t come, Cassidy rushes from the porch and shakes his fist in my face, “How dare you come down here?” h yells. ? ‘IT thought, old chap,” I-tell him pleas- antlike, but loud enough for Mike’Regan to hear it, “ that this was a free country.” “You keep your man out of our way!” Cassidy warns me. “If you don’t I’ll have Mike lick him—tright here; we won’t wait to get into the ring!” I laugh at him and help the bunch un- load boxin’-gloves, punchin’-bags, satchels, canned goods and other junk from the auto- mobile, Cassidy -beats it back to the porch, and I hear him givin’ orders to Mike Regan to swing on O’Mara the first time their paths cross. ; ‘* Suppose he did lick Matty Hughes?” he says. “‘ You can lick him—and I want you to do it! He ain’t got no right to be trainin’ here. You just wallop blazes out of him if he so much as winks at you. Ain’t that right, Johnny?” he asks Johnny De Foe, who’s just come out of the bungalow to see what all the row’s about. “Sure!” says Johnny, “ And if Mike don’t lick the big stiff, ll do it myself!” I could see. Mike perk up a little bit at that. He feels the muscle in his arm and studies O’Mara as though tryin’ to dope out whether a couple of wallops would dis- turb my big red head. I grin, feelin’ that my plan is showin’ signs of workin’. I guess I don’t need to tell you that OQ’Mara wasn’t scheduled to do no regular trainin’—only go through the motions. We had all the props—in case any reporters dropped in on us—but boxin’, bag-punchin’, road work and that kind of thing didn’t make much of a hit with my ’long-shore boy. The only bag he punched was the pil- low, and he done that with his head—every time I’d let him. Most of his other exer- cise was took with a pair of bones that one of his apparent sparrin’-partners disclosed as soon as we were settled ingthe bungalow. I had given a lot of serious thought to the proposition of gettin’ Mike Regan’s COLA chooks .OO (E©)