Page:The Valley of Fear.pdf/171

Rh ress,—Jacob Shafter, Sheridan street. It’s a boarding house that was recommended by a man I knew in Chicago.”

“Well, I don’t know it; but Vermissa is out of my beat. I live at Hobsons Patch, and that’s here where we are drawing up. But, say, there’s one bit of advice I’ll give you before we part: If you’re in trouble in Vermissa, go straight to the Union House and see Boss McGinty. He is the Bodymaster of Vermissa Lodge, and nothing can happen in these parts unless Black Jack McGinty wants it. So long, Mate! Maybe we’ll meet in lodge one of these evenings. But mind my words: If you are in trouble, go to Boss McGinty.”

Scanlan descended, and McMurdo was left once again to his thoughts. Night had now fallen, and the flames of the frequent furnaces were roaring and leaping in the darkness. Against their lurid background dark figures were bending and straining, twisting and turning, with the motion of winch or of windlass, to the rhythm of an eternal clank and roar.

“I guess hell must look something like that,” said a voice. [169]