Page:Harvey O'Higgins--Silent Sam and other stories.djvu/94

82 clenching his gloved fist before him, "I won't stand fer it. I 'll fight 'em on it. I 'll squeal on the whole layout. I will, s' welp me! I will!"

"Tsh, man, not so loud," the watchman cautioned. "What is it? Squeal, d' yeh say? Are yeh goin' to fight Tammany Hall?"

Feeny thudded his fist into his open palm. "I am!"

The watchman struck down at Teeny's hands with a passionate blow that knocked them apart. "Niver! Niver!" he cried. "Are yeh crazy, man? Niver try that. Niver, niver! Hear what I tell yeh." He had caught Feeny by the sleeve and clung to him. "Hear what I tell yeh." He dropped his voice. "They 'll crush yeh like a toad." His old loose lips, set between the heavy wrinkles that fell from his nose, writhed out the words in a hissing whisper. "The way they did me!"

Feeny took a long breath. "What 's the matter? What ails yuh?" He had been startled.

The watchman pushed up the peak of his cap. "Did y' iver hear av Vinny Doyle?"

Feeny shook his head. "Doyle? What Doyle?"

"Yer father 'd 'a' knowed." He tapped the patrolman twice on the broad chest. "I 'm Vinny Doyle." He drew back. "Me!"

The light of an electric lamp above them shone in his face. It was the gray face of senility, grooved and hollowed. A three days' beard had covered his chin with a growth as fine and white as a mould. His