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PLAN FOR VENGEANCE
« MARK
HELLINGER
T was as cold a night as the i
winter
had
known
Leftv
stood on the street corner
his
stood
hands
on
thrust
tne street
deep
corner,;
in his
pockets.
His left hand
closed
around the barrel of his revoiver.
And it was so cold that
hjs hand
almos(. stuck tQ thc
BUD. . . .
a , few ,"™ nu , l , e , s now ll J e bl 8"
i|«t plan of his life was about to
„ _ m«.ptinp his mri n^i
»«L., b 5 ,. "g,.
^"nran, bjj fP^^e^-^o ™ n ,
he »as umRDuncanwal ;
1 1
. " " . T S r ' Duncan was
l e g iSdtume'd 'out to be a
> S S ? £ rate I
'.'"J- ,iat. «"" and Lefty didn t ' like rate. :,
t
i,.
5 . .recalled how when prac-i
kids they had seen another ;
^
hill
in a
ThPi'
pool
f«mlln
room fiash
rin nHf.Vi
a 20-e-'
j bill- They could do with
H
that
wu » clngi. They nail-
! ed ?^lfw t av o?^ Vf\5 block
iand took the twenty with ease.i
i One swift punch to the temple by
Lefty did the trick.
i After that the two men became!
ipartners in crime.
They went along for quite a few
jvears with nothing but minor skir-,
mishes with the police.
: Came the inevitable day. though,
I when their luck ran out. They
j were caught on a juicy burglary
job. and both were in gaol before
Uiev quite knew what had struck
"
~
them. Duncan realised first. And I
right, then and there he decided!
confession was good for thei
miil soul—and _ the rlri„ skin. too.
I
He squealed loudly and long.
The police
didn't have
too
strong a case against Lefty
before that.
But when Duncan
was through singing, away
went Lefty
for a solid
six
years.
^ ^ waan., exactlv dumb Heic
began his plan for vengeance by
writing long and forgiving letters;
w Dufican. who had been handedi
ori l - v a vear because he sang sol
swee[)v At
I
If 51 Dlulca " ™ s
suspicious.;
Duncan began to believe
,those letters-and ietters-and Lefty was wa6 happy.
xhat made the entire pUn for
venKeance s0 much easier.
FIGURED IT OUT
THROUGH those long years in
gaol he schemed and figured the
m„.hod for -veninc the score
! Dcsl memoo lor evening tne score
I with Duncan. Eventually, the
best method turned out to be the
Isimplest. He would meet Duncan
! on a busy corner. They'd wall:
around a bit, and talk over old
| times. And then, on a dark side
street. Lefty would murder Dun
c a "' Swiftly and completely
It never occurred to Lefty that
what he was about to do was ratty
lt s , elf - The sneaky element in
his plan for vengeance never hit
him at all. Even with the big
moment at hand, the thought never
struck Lefty that—had their positions
been reversed—he would have
ratted to the police about Duncan
to save Ills own hide.
Duncan rounded the corner suddenly
and walked right up to Lefty.
Lefty swallowed hard, then grinned.
The two men shook hands
and patted each other on the back.
They walked and they walked.
Duncan said he felt rotten about
having turned State's evidence the
way lie did—but he!ty told him to
Printed and published by EDGAR H
BAILLIE, of 185 Balaclava Road.
Cauineid. tor United Prea. Herald
snd Weekly Tlm« Limited, at. ItK
Registereri offlte. «4-7« niadtra
Street, Melbourne.
:
forget it. The whole episode was
forgotten, he said.
Lefty casually steered Duncan,b
into a side street. It was very dark, I
and the gun in Lertv's pocket was j
practically against Duncan's hip.
This was going to be a cinch, i
He was about to pull a gun [
when he noticed a high-powered |
car coming up the street. No |
sense in taking a chance on
witnesses. He'd wait until the,
w"^ssed. "" la
An hour later, three men sat in I
a mid-town office. One sat behind
a desk, vaguely cleaning his nails,
He was a fat, mild-mannered man,
^ lK0 men in front. of thc desk
were talking rapidly. They looked
like ex-pugs,
"Well boss." said one. "when
they turned down this side street,
the Job was as good as done. That
move of theirs made us plenty
happy, we can tell you.
"We stepped oil it and turned
around the block so that we'd be
comin' up against them. Our
orders was to get- Duncan, and we
got him good, all right. But we
couldn't help ourselves, boss. We
hadda kill the other guy too."
The boss nodded slowly.
"That's okay, boys," he observed
reflectively. "What's gotta be, has
gotta be. And no matter who thc
other guy was. he musta been no
good—or he wouldn't of been
hangin' out with a rat like Duncan."
(Another Story Next Week.)
$