Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 85: what you’re looking at

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

KICKING TOM McGEE. crew besides signing them on by their own free will. Halifax at that time was one of the premier shanghai ports of the world, a fact commemorated in the Sailor’s Litany by that prayer: While on the sea I be, From Hull, hell, and Halifax, Good God, deliver me. It was a notorious fact that if a man happened into Water Street who had no business there, he was liable to do the vanishing act, and to remain on the missing list until weeks or months later he spoke from some undreamed foreign port. - There were two famous crimp houses on Water Street—the Alhambra and the Rial- to. Each of these had a bar situated con- veniently toward the end of the pier. By means of a hatchway in the floor, it was a simple matter to lower the inebriate into a waiting boat and whisk him away to a welcoming forecastle. In such a port it seemed as though Cap- tain McGee would have no trouble to ship a crew. The Orion loaded deals for Valparaiso at the Deepwater terminals. When the time came for getting to sea, the skipper applied to his old provider, Music Murphy, of the Rialto. Murphy spoke the good word, and his boarding house runner got busy. Every- thing was in readiness for the crew to be delivered aboard, when at the last minute Murphy was warned off by Battling Burke, of the Alhambra. “Don’t youse put one single blamed bloke aboard the Orion,” was the order which Barney Upgate, Burke’s henchman, passed to Murphy, on behalf of his chief. Battling Burke was something more than the proprietor of the Alhambra; he was top _ dog of Water Street. His word was law. Next day Captain McGee came storming into the Rialto, upbraiding Murphy for breach of contract. _ Tt ain’t no good, cappen,” whined Mur- phy. “Me hands is tied. If I buck up ag’in’ some one, he'll git me license called at city hall.” “ What!” exclaimed the captain with surprise. ‘I thought you ran this ward, Murphy?” _there, and taught boxing on the side. 711 ‘““T used to once, but that was before we got our present boss.” “‘ And who’s your boss here now?” “ Battling Burke. He owns this sailor town, hook, line, and sinker. There ain’t a man down here would dare to cross him, and the worse o’ it is, cappen, for the sake of some old grudge Battling Burke seems to be laying for ye.” “Battling Burke,” McGee repeated the name aloud. “ Sounds familiar. Where have I heard that before?” “Ye ain’t bin in this port for years, cappen; I’m blowed if I see how ye knowed him.” ‘Aye, but I think I do. Is he a big, red headed bruiser, with an ugly scar across his face, as if he’d bin branded with a butcher’s cleaver?” “A gash right across his left cheek from his ear to his dirty mug.” “Yes, that’s Burke all right. I remem- ber now. Years ago I had him shipped with me out of the Downs, as second. But I broke him on the voyage and fired him back into the fo’c’s’le, because there ain’t no room for more’n one master aboard a Bluenose packet. Now I suppose he thinks his turn has come, and he’s got me where he wants me, eh?” “Ye’ve got it, cappen.” “Well, before he gets through bucking into Tom McGee, mebbe he’ll find he’s bit off more’n he can chew. But tell me, how did this Burke fellow ever get in here, any- way?” “Why, he blowed into Halifax a good - ten year ago. Swore he was tired o’ the sea. He married Madam Terrio, the Traca- die widder, that owned the Alhambra. The widder died soon after, and left Burke the whole works. | fer a guy to git a joint like the Alhambra, wi’ a first class bar, a boarding house, a dance hall, and the two pretty Terrio girls throwed in to boot. “On top o’ this, Burke was a great scrapper, and added a gymnasium onto the Alhambra, had his own training quarters Be- cause 0’ his fightin’, he begun to cut quite a figger wi’ the boys along the water front. So he Starts, wi’ Mulligan and his’ ete It ain’t no small thing ~ = com Ce Sr ee ee