The Daily Alaska empire., 1932-06-30

With bandageS and surgeons plas ter, grinned painfully.
 "Crazy as ever, Limpy,o he re piled thickly. 'Mallory's still il
 bed Just saw the steward taking
 him highban Hamilton is back
 at his blamed solitaire. Martin.
 sitting in a corner saying nothing while Williams tells him whats the difference between May anc , September wheat"
 How delightful" commented the
 cripple.
 | Lucci looked at him in wonder i This was a strange bird. A little i potty maybe, but a racketeer such as gangland had never known be- fore and would never know again. Listen, Limpy," he said abrupt ly, ignoring Nancy's presence, T don't begrudge you this game one damn bit. You turned a nice deal and I'll lay my dough on the line without squawking. What I want to know is, will you play with me or against me when this is over?"
 T take it that you have a prop i osition?" Ashwoods voice held only the vaguest shade of inter est.
 "You said it! Listen. I control every making racket west of the Alleghanies. My muscle men are in on the graft in Chi cago, Detroit, Cleveland, Cincinnati ti, St Louis and Kansas City. In each of these cities my men act as the secretaries of my outfits and T get the gues, see? No dues, no protection. No protection, no bus ness, see? I got organizers work ing right now in the East and in six months there won't be clean CT and dyer in the United States who isn't kicking in, see? And that ain't half.
 "There are few guys who are bucking me" he continued ear nestly, but my gorilas will take care of them.
 T never been able to make out just what your racket is. I know that damn funny things happen every once in a while and when they do I hear about Limpy Ash wood Are you the bird whose mob is bringing in all the dia- monds from Antwerp?" He glared at the cripple challengingly.
 While a lawyer might object to that as a leading question" smiled Ashwood, it is flattering, coming from you. I have been in- terested in the tax-free importa- tion Of diamonds on fairly large scale !"
 How'd you get them by the GUS toms?" demanded the other, in- credulouSly.
 At a re-arranged spot off Man. tucket lightship, my man on the steamer drops them overheard in a metal canister. One hour later the canister erupts a great quan- tity of chemical smoke. My ann phI5ian, which at that moment is cruising in the vicinity notices the smoke and picks up the container. Quite simple, eh?"
 The battered gangster stared at him in undisguised admiration.
 How many mon you got in your mob?" he inquired.
 Forty four" replied the cripple carelessly, scattered here and there around the world"
 That ain't many" stated the otther disparagingly. T got more than five hundred" He stopped and appeared to ponder. Then, as sudden thought struck him, Did you put over the silk ex- press robbery three months ago?"
 My men did" Ashwood admit ted T did little more than to fly the plane. It happened that my regular pilot was ill.
 Ely the plane?" The gangster seemed puzzled. Then his face cleared in sudden understanding. Sure. That's how you made your getaway! No wonder the bulls couldn't pick up your tracks. Now listen, Limpy, how about the two of us hooking up? We can make twenty millions apiece in the next year and that ain't baloney, eith- CT! Twenty millions, easy"
 The frail figure in the deck chair stirred uneasily His eyes had become weary and old.
 I'm afraid not, Lucci. I don't want twenty millions. I have all I want now. And so have my men. I've shared with them and when we are through our efforts here, we're going to break up as an organized unit. For my part, I'm going to retire"
 He looked far into the north ern sky, focusing his eyes in tently.
 Of course" he added, there's