Mr. Pickins was not now in character, but was clad in quite ordinary good clothes; his prominent cheek-bones, however, had become two white spots in the midst of an angrily red countenance3.
“I don’t know as I blame him so much,” said Phelps. “The trouble is we sized him for about the intelligence of a louse. Anybody who would stand for your Hoop-pole County line of talk wouldn’t need such a careful frame-up to make him lay down his money.”
“There’s something to that,” agreed Short-Card Larry. “I always did say your work was too strong, Pick.”
“There ain’t another man in the crowd can play as good a Rube,” protested Mr. Pickins, touched [Pg 87]deeply upon the matter of his art. “I don’t know how many thousands we’ve cleaned up on that outfit4 of mine.”
“Ye-e-es, but this Wallingford person called the turn,” insisted Phelps. “The only times we ever made it stick was on the kind of farmers that work in eleven-story office buildings. You can fool a man with a stuffed dog, but you can’t fool a dog with it; and you couldn’t fool Yap Wallingford with a counterfeit5 yap.”
“Well,” announced Mr. Pickins, with emphatic6 finality, “you may have my part of him. I’m willing to let him go right back to Oskaloosa, or Oshkosh, or wherever it is.”
“Not me,” declared Phelps. “I want to get him just on general principles. He’s handed me too much flossy talk. You know the last thing he had the nerve to say? He invited us up to play stud poker7 with him.”
“Why don’t you?” asked Pickins.
“Ask Larry,” said Phelps with a laugh, whereat Larry merely swore.
Badger9 Billy, who had been silently listening with his eyes half closed, was possessed10 of a sudden inventive gift.
[Pg 88]
“Yes, why don’t you?” he repeated. “If I read this village cut-up right, and I think I do, he’ll take a sporting chance. Get him over to the Forty-second Street dump on a proposition to play two-handed stud with Harry11 there, then pull off a phoney pinch for gambling12.”
“No chance,” returned Phelps. “He’d be on to that game; it’s a dead one, too.”
“Not if you work it this way,” insisted Billy, in whom the creative spirit was still strong. “Tell him that we’re all sore at Harry, here; that Harry threw the gang last night and got me put away. I’ll have McDermott take me down and lock me up on suspicion for a couple of hours, so you can bring him down and show me to him. Tell him you’ve found a way to get square. Harry’s supposed to have a grouch13 about that stud poker taunt14 and wants to play Wallingford two-handed, five thousand a side. Tell him to go into this game, and that just when they have the money and the cards on the table, you’ll pull off a phoney pinch and have your fake officer take the money and cards for evidence, then you’ll split up with him.”
Billy paused and looked around with a triumphant15 eye. It was a long, long speech for the Badger, and [Pg 89]a vivid bit of creative work of which he felt justly proud.
“Fine!” observed Larry in deep sarcasm16. “Then I suppose we give him the blackjack and take it all away from him?”
“No, you mutt,” returned Billy, having waited for this objection so as to bring out the clever part of his scheme as a climax17. “Just as we have Dan pull off the pinch, in jumps Sprig Foles and pinches Dan for impersonating an officer. Then Sprig cops the money and the cards for evidence, while we all make a get-away.”
A long and thoughtful silence followed the exposition of this great scheme of Billy’s. It was Phelps who spoke18 first.
“There’s one thing about it,” he admitted: “it’s a new one.”
“Grandest little double cross that was ever pulled over,” announced Billy in the pride of authorship.
It was a matter of satisfaction, to say nothing of surprise, to Short-Card Larry to note the readiness, even the alacrity20, with which young Wallingford fell into the trap. Would he accept the traitorous21 Mr. Phelps’ challenge if guaranteed that he would win? He would! There was nothing young Wallingford [Pg 90]detested so much as a traitor22. Moreover, he had a grouch at Mr. Phelps himself.
Short-Card Larry had expected to argue more than this, and, having argument still lying heavily upon his lungs, must rid himself of it. It must be distinctly understood that the crowd wanted nothing whatever out of this. They merely wished to see the foresworn Mr. Phelps lose all his money, so that he could not hire a lawyer to defend him, and when he was thus resourceless they intended to have him arrested on an old charge and “sent over.” They were very severe and heartless about Mr. Phelps, but they did not want his money. They would not touch it! Wallingford could have it all with the exception of the two hundred and fifty dollars he would have to pay to the experienced plain-clothes-man impersonator whom Larry, having a wide acquaintance, would secure.
Mr. Wallingford understood perfectly23. He appreciated thoroughly24 the motives25 that actuated Mr. Larry Teller26 and his friends, and those motives did them credit. He counted himself, moreover, highly fortunate in being on hand to take advantage of the situation. Still moreover, after the trick was turned he would stand a fine dinner for the entire [Pg 91]crowd, including Mr. Pickins, to whom Mr. Teller would kindly27 convey his, Mr. Wallingford’s, respects.
Accepting this commission with some inward resentment28 but outward pleasure, Mr. Teller suggested that the game be played off that very afternoon. Mr. Wallingford was very sorry. That afternoon and evening he had business of grave importance. To-morrow evening, however, say at about nine o’clock, he would be on hand with the five thousand, in bills of convenient denomination29. Mr. Teller might call for him at the hotel and escort him to the room, although, from having had the location previously30 pointed31 out to him, Mr. Wallingford was quite sure he could find Mr. Teller’s apartment, where the contest was to take place. Left alone, Mr. Wallingford, in the exuberance32 of his youth, lay back in his big chair and spent five solid minutes in chuckling33 self-congratulation, to the great mystification of the incoming Mr. Daw, whom J. Rufus would not quite trust with his reason for mirth. Feeling the need of really human companionship at this juncture34, young Wallingford called up his convivial35 friend from Georgia and they went out to spend another busy and pleasant afternoon and evening, [Pg 92]amid a rapidly widening circle of friends whom these two enterprising and jovial36 gentlemen had already managed to attach to them. With an eye to business, however, Wallingford carefully timed their wanderings so that he should return, alone, on foot, to his own hotel a trifle after midnight.
As Mr. Teller and Mr. Wallingford, on the following evening at a few minutes before nine, turned into the house on Forty-second Street, they observed a sturdy figure helping37 a very much inebriated38 man up the stone steps just before them, but as the sturdy figure inserted a latch-key in the door and opened it with one hand while supporting his companion with the other arm, the incident was not one to excite comment. Just inside the door the inebriated man tried to raise a disturbance39, which was promptly40 squelched41 by the sturdy gentleman, who held his charge firmly in a bearlike grip while Mr. Teller and Mr. Wallingford passed around them at the foot of the stairs, casting smiling glances down at the face of the perpetually-worried landlady42, who had come to the parlor43 door to wonder what she ought to do about it.
In the second floor back room Mr. Phelps and Mr. Badger already awaited them. Mr. Badger’s greeting [Pg 93]to Larry was the ordinary greeting of one man who had seen the other within the hour; his greeting to Mr. Wallingford was most cordial and accompanied by the merest shade of a wink44. Mr. Phelps, on the other hand, was most grim. While not denying the semblance45 of courtesy one gentleman should bestow46 upon another, he nevertheless gave Mr. Wallingford distinctly to understand by his bearing that he was out for Mr. Wallingford’s financial blood, and after the coldest of greetings he asked gruffly:
“Did you bring cards?”
“One dollar’s worth,” said Wallingford, tossing four packs upon the table. “Ordinary drug-store cards, bought at the corner.”
“You see them bought, Larry?” inquired Phelps.
“They’re all right, Phelps,” Mr. Teller assured him.
“Good,” said Mr. Phelps. “Then we might just as well get to work right away,” and from his pocket he drew a fat wallet out of which he counted five thousand dollars, mostly in bills of large denomination.
In the chair at the opposite side of the little table Wallingford sat down with equal grimness, and [Pg 94]produced an equal amount of money in similar denominations47.
“I don’t suppose we need chips,” said Phelps. “The game may not last over a couple of deals. Make it table stakes, loser of each hand to deal the next one.”
They opened a pack of cards and cut for the deal, which fell to Wallingford, and they began with a mutual48 five-dollar ante. Upon the turn card of the first deal each placed another five. Upon the third card, Phelps, being high, shoved forward a five-dollar bill, which Wallingford promptly raised with fifty. Scarcely glancing at his hole-card, Phelps let him take the pot, and it became Phelps’ deal.
It was a peculiar49 game, in that Phelps kept the deal from then on, betting mildly until Wallingford raised, in which case Wallingford was allowed to take down the money. By this means Wallingford steadily50 won, but in such small amounts that Mr. Phelps could have kept playing for hours on his five thousand dollars in spite of the annoyance51 of maudlin52 quarreling from the next room. It was not necessary to enter such a long test of endurance to gain mere8 time, however, for in less than a half-hour the door suddenly burst open, its latch-bar losing [Pg 95]its screws with suspicious ease, and a gaunt but muscular-looking individual with a down-drooping mustache strode in upon them, displaying a large shining badge pinned on his vest underneath53 his coat.
“Every man keep his seat!” commanded this apparition54. “The place is pinched as a gambling joint55.”
Mr. Phelps made a grab for the money on the table.
“drop that!” said the new-comer, making a motion toward his hip19 pocket, and Mr. Phelps subsided56 in his chair.
The others had posed themselves most dramatically, and now they sat in motionless but trembling obedience57 to the law, while the man with the tin badge produced from his pocket a little black bag into which he stuffed the cards and all the money on the table.
“It’s a frame-up!” shouted Mr. Phelps.
Loud voices and the overturning of chairs from the room just ahead interrupted them at this moment, and not only Mr. Badger and Mr. Teller and Mr. Phelps looked annoyed, but the man with the shining badge glanced apprehensively58 in that direction, [Pg 96]especially as, added to the sudden uproar60, there was the unmistakable clang of a patrol-wagon61 in the street.
Simultaneously62 with this there bounded into the room a large gentleman with a red face and a husky voice, who whipped a revolver from his pocket the minute he passed the threshold and leveled it at the man with the badge, while all the others sprang from their chairs.
“Hands up!” said he, in a hurried but businesslike manner, himself apparently63 annoyed with and apprehensive59 of the adjoining disturbance and the clanging in the street. “This is a sure-enough pinch, but it ain’t for gambling, you can bet your sweet life! You’re all pulled for a bunch of cheap sure-thing experts, but this guy has got the lock-step comin’ to him for impersonating an officer. You’ve played that gag too long, Dan Blazer. Give me that evidence!” and he snatched the black bag from the hand of the man with the badge.
Short-Card Larry, standing64 near what was apparently a closet door, now took his cue and threw it open, and, grabbing Wallingford by the arm, suddenly pulled him forward. “This is the real thing,” he said in a hoarse65 whisper. “We’ve got to make [Pg 97]a get-away or go up. They’re fierce on us here if the pinch once comes.”
“Hello, boys,” broke in a third new voice, and then the real shock came. The third new voice was not in the play at all, and the consternation66 it wrought67 was more than ludicrous.
Wallingford, drawing back for a moment, was nearly knocked off his feet by fat Badger Billy’s dashing past him through that door to the back stairway, closely followed by Mr. Phelps, and Mr. Phelps was trailed almost as closely by the gaunt man of the badge. Glancing toward the door, Mr. Wallingford smiled beatifically68. The cause of all this sudden exodus69 was huge Harvey Willis, in his blue suit and brass70 buttons and helmet, with a club in his hand, who, making one dive for the husky red-faced man as he, too, was bent71 on disappearing, whanged him against the wall with a blow upon the head from his billy; and as the red-faced man fell over, Harvey grabbed the black bag. The crash of a breaking water-pitcher from the adjoining room, the shrill72 voice of a protesting and frightened landlady as she came tearing up the stairs, and the clamor of one of those lightning-collected mobs in front of the house around the patrol-wagon, created a diversion [Pg 98]in the midst of which Harvey Willis started out into the hall, a circumstance which gave the dazed red-faced man an opportunity to stagger down the back stairway and out through the alley73 after his companions, whom Wallingford had already followed. They were not waiting for him, by any means, but this time were genuinely interested in getting away from the law, each man darkly suspicious of all the others, and Wallingford, alone, serene74 in mind.
In the hall, Willis, with a grin, thrust the black bag into his big pocket, and turned his attention to the terrified landlady and his brother officer of the wagon, who was just then mounting the stairs.
“Case of plain coke jag,” he explained, and burst into the noisy room, from which the two presently emerged with the shrieking75 and inebriated man who had been brought up-stairs but a short while before.
In Wallingford’s room that night, Blackie Daw was just starting for Boston when Harvey Willis, now off duty, came up with the little black bag, which he dropped upon the table, sitting down in one of the big chairs and laughing hugely.
“Mr. Daw, shake hands with Mr. Willis, a friend [Pg 99]of mine from Filmore,” said Wallingford. “Order a drink, Daw.”
As he spoke, he untied76 the bag, and, taking its lower corners, sifted77 the mixture of cards and greenbacks upon the table. Daw, in the act of shaking hands, stopped with gaping78 jaws79.
“What in Moses is that?” he asked.
“Merely a little contribution from your Broadway friends,” Wallingford explained with a chuckle80. “Harvey, what do I owe out of this?”
“Well,” said Harvey, sitting down again and naming over the cast of characters on his fingers, “there’s seven dollars for the room, and the tenner I gave Sawyer to go down on Park Row and hunt up a coke jag. Sawyer gets fifty. We ought to slip a twenty to the wagon-man. Sawyer will have to pay about a ten-case note for broken furniture, and I suppose you’ll want to pay this poor coke dip’s fine. That’s all, except me.”
“Ninety-seven dollars, besides the fine,” said Wallingford, counting it up. “Suppose we say a hundred and fifty to cover all expenses, and about three hundred and fifty for you. How would that do?”
“Fine!” agreed Harvey. “Stay right here and keep me busy at the price.”
“Not me,” said Wallingford warmly. “I only did this because I was peevish81. I don’t like this kind of money. It may not be honest money. I don’t know how Phelps and Banting and Teller got this money.”
Blackie Daw came solemnly over and shook hands with him.
“Stay amongst our midst, J. Rufus,” he pleaded. “We need an infusion82 of live ones on Broadway. Our best workers have grown jaded83 and effete84, and our reputation is suffering. Stay, oh, stay!”
“No,” refused J. Rufus positively85. “I don’t want to have anything more to do with crooks86!”
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1
savagely
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| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
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2
knuckles
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| n.（指人）指关节( knuckle的名词复数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝v.（指人）指关节( knuckle的第三人称单数 )；（指动物）膝关节，踝 | |
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3
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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4
outfit
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| n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装 | |
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5
counterfeit
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| vt.伪造，仿造；adj.伪造的，假冒的 | |
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6
emphatic
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| adj.强调的，着重的；无可置疑的，明显的 | |
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7
poker
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| n.扑克；vt.烙制 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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9
badger
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| v.一再烦扰，一再要求，纠缠 | |
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10
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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11
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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12
gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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grouch
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| n.牢骚，不满；v.抱怨 | |
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14
taunt
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| n.辱骂，嘲弄；v.嘲弄 | |
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15
triumphant
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| adj.胜利的，成功的；狂欢的，喜悦的 | |
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16
sarcasm
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| n.讥讽，讽刺，嘲弄，反话 （adj.sarcastic） | |
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17
climax
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| n.顶点；高潮；v.(使)达到顶点 | |
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18
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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hip
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| n.臀部，髋；屋脊 | |
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alacrity
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| n.敏捷，轻快，乐意 | |
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21
traitorous
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| adj. 叛国的, 不忠的, 背信弃义的 | |
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traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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23
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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25
motives
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| n.动机，目的( motive的名词复数 ) | |
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26
teller
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| n.银行出纳员；(选举)计票员 | |
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kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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28
resentment
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| n.怨愤，忿恨 | |
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denomination
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| n.命名，取名，(度量衡、货币等的)单位 | |
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30
previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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32
exuberance
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| n.丰富；繁荣 | |
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33
chuckling
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的现在分词 ) | |
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34
juncture
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| n.时刻，关键时刻，紧要关头 | |
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convivial
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| adj.狂欢的，欢乐的 | |
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36
jovial
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| adj.快乐的，好交际的 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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inebriated
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| adj.酒醉的 | |
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disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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squelched
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| v.发吧唧声，发扑哧声( squelch的过去式和过去分词 )；制止；压制；遏制 | |
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42
landlady
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| n.女房东，女地主 | |
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43
parlor
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| n.店铺，营业室；会客室，客厅 | |
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44
wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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45
semblance
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| n.外貌，外表 | |
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46
bestow
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| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
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47
denominations
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| n.宗派( denomination的名词复数 )；教派；面额；名称 | |
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48
mutual
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| adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的 | |
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49
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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50
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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51
annoyance
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| n.恼怒，生气，烦恼 | |
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52
maudlin
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| adj.感情脆弱的，爱哭的 | |
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53
underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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54
apparition
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| n.幽灵，神奇的现象 | |
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55
joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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56
subsided
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| v.（土地）下陷（因在地下采矿）( subside的过去式和过去分词 )；减弱；下降至较低或正常水平；一下子坐在椅子等上 | |
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57
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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58
apprehensively
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| adv.担心地 | |
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59
apprehensive
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| adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的 | |
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60
uproar
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| n.骚动，喧嚣，鼎沸 | |
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61
wagon
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| n.四轮马车，手推车，面包车；无盖运货列车 | |
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62
simultaneously
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| adv.同时发生地，同时进行地 | |
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63
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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64
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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65
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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66
consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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67
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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68
beatifically
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| adj. 祝福的, 幸福的, 快乐的, 慈祥的 | |
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69
exodus
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| v.大批离去，成群外出 | |
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70
brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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71
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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72
shrill
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| adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫 | |
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73
alley
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| n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路 | |
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74
serene
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| adj. 安详的，宁静的，平静的 | |
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75
shrieking
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| v.尖叫( shriek的现在分词 ) | |
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76
untied
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| 松开，解开( untie的过去式和过去分词 )； 解除，使自由； 解决 | |
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77
sifted
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| v.筛( sift的过去式和过去分词 )；筛滤；细查；详审 | |
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78
gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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79
jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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80
chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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81
peevish
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| adj.易怒的，坏脾气的 | |
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82
infusion
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| n.灌输 | |
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83
jaded
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| adj.精疲力竭的；厌倦的；（因过饱或过多而）腻烦的；迟钝的 | |
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84
effete
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| adj.无生产力的，虚弱的 | |
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85
positively
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| adv.明确地，断然，坚决地；实在，确实 | |
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86
crooks
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| n.骗子( crook的名词复数 )；罪犯；弯曲部分；（牧羊人或主教用的）弯拐杖v.弯成钩形( crook的第三人称单数 ) | |
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