Evening star., 1921-10-24
BY FRANK L. PACKARD.
Copyright, 1891. By Public Ledger cs.
Copyright, 1911. BY B. Il. Davis 0olD.

I said. I'm all the way from Frisco,
and everything's on the level. L
the letter on its way, and let the
Scorpion call the turn. II he don't
want to see me, he don't have to.
See?'
,"All right" said the barkeeper
straight, I amt seen him tonight. an
! amt sayin' he's to be found. or that
he's stickin' around here anywhere.
'Tll watt said Bookie Skarvan
pleasantly.
length of the bar. disappeared
through a door at the rear for a
moment, and, returning. rejoined the
group at the upper end Of the room.
| Bookie Skarvan waited.
| Perhaps five minutes passed. The
| door at the rear of the bar opened
slightly. the barkeeper sauntered
down in that direction, and an instant
later nodded his head over his shoul-
der to Bookie Skarvan. motioning
him to come around the end Of the
bar.
"Cunny'll see youse," he announced.
stepping aside from the doorway to
allow Bookie Skarvan to pass. DE
Chink'ii show youse de way He
grinned suddenly. II guess youse are
wouldn't be goin' where youse are!"'
The door closed behind him. and
| Bookie Skarvan found himself in a
narrow. dimly-lighted passage. A
small. wizened Chinaman. in a white
blouse. standing in front of him,
You fiiend of scorpy's-that alice
same belly glood. You come" in
vited the man, and scuffied off along
| the hall.
smiled to himself in complacent sat
isfaction. Cunny Smeeks. alias the
Scorpion. was, If surroundings were
any criterion. living up to his reputa-
| tion-whfch was not insignificant
item on Bookie Skarvan's dope
as one Of the most powerful Grim
inal leaders in the underworld Of New
York.
Sure" said Cookie skarvan to
dope-and it's right"
The passage swerved suddenly. and
| became almost black. Bookie Skar-
van could just barely make out the
fiutter of the white blouse in front of
him. And then the guides voice
floated back:
"Allee same stlairs here-you look
out"
Cautioned. Bookie Skarvan de-
scended a steep flight Of stairs warily
into what was obviously, though it
was too dark to see. a cellar. Ahead
W
through an opening Of some sort, a
faint glow Of light again. and toward
this the white blouse futtered its
way. And then Bookie Skarvan found
himself in another passage; and a
strange. sweetish odor came to his
nostrils; and strange sounds. subdued
whisperings rustlings, the dull ring
of metal like coin thrown upon a
table, reached his ears. And there
seemed to be doors on either side.
and curtained hangings. and it was
soft and silent underfoot:
IT dunno-it amt got much on
| Frisco, at that"
The guide halted. and opened a
door. A soft, mellow light shone out.
Bookie Skarvan smiled knowingly.
He was not altogether unsophisti-
Gated! A group of richly dressed
Scarcely one of them looked up.
Bookie Skarvan's eyes passed over
the group almost contemptuously. and
fixed on the only man in the room
who was not playing. and. likewise,
| the only man present who was not an
oriental, and who. with hands In his
lpockets, and slouch hat pushed back
from his forehead: stood watching the
game-a man who was abnormally
short in stature, and enormously
broad in shoulder. who had hair of a
! violently aggressive red, and whose
eyes. as he turned now to look toward
the door, were of a blue SO faded as
| to make them unpleasantly colorless.
! Eookie Skarvan remained tentative
lily on the threshold. He needed no fur
ther introduction-no one to whom
the man had been previously describ-
ed could mistake Cunny Smeeks, alias
the Scorpion.
CONTINUED in Tomorrow's Star.)