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"Sure there is," replied the landlord, with a laugh. "Then for the Lord's sake lead me out of this wilderness of doubt into his presence." Not another word was spoken until they crossed the threshold of Ed McGowan's barroom.
It was the voice of the Divisional Superintendent of the Express Company, a man of eccentric determination of character, and one of the few whom the autocratic Bill recognized as an equal, who had just entered the barroom. His dusty pongee cloak and soft hat indicated that he had that morning arrived on a round of inspection.
In one Limehouse barroom you will find sailors from Behring Straits and the China Sea, the Baltic and the River Plate, the Congo and Labrador, all calling London home, all paying an orang-outang's devotions to the selfsame London barmaid, all drenched and paralysed by London beer.... The kaiserstadt of the world, this grim and grey old London!
Make yourselves comfortable, and I'll have the Frau cut you up a coupla sandwiches. How'd you leave San Francisco? Pretty warm out there, ain't it?" He had, by this time, shooed them into the plush and crayon-enlargement parlor behind the barroom. His great voice overawed them and they were cold.
Lawton and his companion now entered the building, and the first objects which met their eyes explained the hidden meaning of Betty's comfortable declaration. A long table, made of boards torn from the side of an outbuilding, was stretched through the middle of the largest apartment, or the barroom, and on it was a very scanty display of crockery ware.
No more would the genial atmosphere of that barroom respond to the heavings of his broad chest, no more would the dignified concoctor of rare and villainous drinks pass him the whisky-straight. Alas! Bill Foster had passed in his checks, and gone the way of all Ten Milers.
At the right of this main entrance was another smaller one, a ladies' entrance, on the frosted pane of which one read, "Oyster Cafe." The main entrance opened directly into the barroom. It was a handsome room, paved with marble flags. To the left was the bar, whose counter was a single slab of polished redwood.
"On Tuesday evening last, 23d, an affray occurred at the town of Tallahasse, in this county, between Hugh Roark and Captain Flack, which resulted in the death of Roark. Roark went to bed, and Flack, who was in the barroom below, observed to some persons there, that he believed they had set up Roark to whip him; Roark, upon hearing his name mentioned, got out of bed and came downstairs.
I don't guess it's nuthin'," said Beasley. "Only it's so dogone queer." His manner was well calculated. His final remark drew the entire barroom. All play and all talk was abruptly held up. "Wot's queer?" demanded Diamond Jack, while all eyes searched the saloon-keeper's sharp face. Beasley bit the end off a green cigar. "That's just it," he said. "Ther's suthin' I can't jest make out.
Ford turned just as Sam shot through the doorway into the dining-room, and splintered a beer bottle against the casing; glanced solemnly up at the barroom clock and, retreating to the nearly denuded bar, gravely poured himself another drink; held up the glass to the dusk-filmed window, squinted through it, decided that he needed a little more than that, and added another teaspoonful.
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