Strictly Business Page: 256
This book is part of the collection entitled: O. Henry Project and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.
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of trouble would be busy among the chattering steins at
Dutch Mike's that night. Close by his side drew Brick
Cleary, his Mercutio, companion of his perambulations.
Thus they stood, four of the Mulberry Hill Gang and two
of the Dry Dock Gang, minding their P's and Q's so
solicitously that Dutch Mike kept one eye on his custom-
ers and the other on an open space beneath his bar in which
it was his custom to seek safety whenever the ominous
politeness of the rival associations congealed into the
shapes of bullets and cold steel.
But we have not to do with the wars of the Mulberry
Hills and the Dry Docks. We must to Rooney's, where,
on the most blighted dead branch of the tree of life, a little
pale orchid shall bloom.
Overstrained etiquette at last gave way. It is not known
who first overstepped the bounds of punctilio; but the con-
sequences were immediate. Buck Malone, of the Mul-
berry Hills, with a Dewey-like swiftness, got an eight-
inch gun swung round from his hurricane deck. But
McManus's simile must be the torpedo. IIe glided in
under the guns and slipped a scant three inches of knife
blade between the ribs of the Mulberry Hill cruiser. Mean-
while Brick Cleary, a devotee to strategy, had skimmed
across the lunch counter and thrown the switch of the
electrics, leaving the combat to be waged by the light
of gunfire alone. Dutch Mike crawled from his haven
and ran into the street crying for the watch insteadI
-g L I I ~?mc~R
Strictly Business
256
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Henry, O., 1862-1910. Strictly Business, book, 1910; New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth139374/m1/268/?rotate=270: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.