Page:Harvey O'Higgins--Silent Sam and other stories.djvu/102

90 In thim days, I feared no man, nayther. I was young an' raised rough, with fires, an' fightin', an' the divil knows what. An' I dared Tweed to his face. 'I 'll make good,' I says. 'I 'll show yeh, niver fear. I 'll show yeh,' I says. 'I 'll show yeh!"

"An' I done it. I got Barney Coogan to promise he 'd run ag'in' Tweed's man fer alderman. I got a meetin' togither an' nominated him. I woorked fer four months in the ward, with me frien's—an' I had plinty—an' Tweed bein' busy with his own campaign fer sheriff, an' Coogan a pop'lar man—we got Coogan ilicted by the lin'th av his long ears, an' the boys av No. 6 swore they 'd batter me to a pulp.

"Look yeh now. Here 's what happened. I was so blown up with what I 'd done, that one night I walked into a joint they called the 'Tiger,' to show the gang I was in no fear av thim—if I had raytreated all the way from Bull Run to Cherry Street, hot foot, as they 'd been sayin' durin' th' 'liction. Me arrm was in a sling, but I had a pistol in m' other pocket, an' I strode up to the bar an' ordered me drink like a loord. An' whin I toorned on me elbow, there they sat watchin' me, quiet, like so many circus cats in a cage. An' I knew, thin, I 'd done wrong.

"There was no word said, but one av thim got up an' slid too'rds the door, an' whin I started backin' on it, whippin' out me shooter, the tables wint over with a leap—an' the room full av thim pounced on me—an' some one grabbed the gun—an' it wint off in his grip—an' through the smoke I saw Butch Sleeman open his