Chapter 1
To beat the miners he had to let his hired thugs run wild. When the fight was over he couldn't get rid of them. He had given his city over to them and he wasn't strong enough to take it away from t...
Chapter 2
"What was I using my son for?""To put the knife in Thaler, Yard and the Finn.""You're a liar.""I didn't invent the story. It's all over Personville.""It's a lie. I gave him the papers. He did what...
Chapter 3
"She's money-mad, all right, but somehow you don't mind it. She's so thoroughly mercenary, so frankly greedy, that there's nothing disagreeable about it. You'll understand what I mean when you know...
Chapter 4
"Money," she explained, "the more the better. I like it." I became proverbial: "Money saved is money earned. I can save you money and grief.""That doesn't mean anything to me," she said. (4.37)
Chapter 5
"I want a man to clean up this pig-sty of a Poisonville for me, to smoke out the rats, little and big. It's a man's job. Are you a man?""What's the use getting poetic about it?" I growled. "If you'...
Chapter 7
"The Continental's got rules against taking bonuses or rewards," I said. (7.78)
Chapter 8
"I've got a mean disposition. Attempted assassinations make me mad." (8.46)
Chapter 9
The silvery streak ended its flashing slant in the ring, with a sound that was partly a thud, partly a snap. Ike Bush took his arm out of the referee's hand and pitched down on top of Kid Cooper. A...
Chapter 10
"I'd seen you maul him around. […] He's in love with you, and this isn't the first time you've done it. He acted like he had learned there was no use matching muscle with you. But you can't expec...
Chapter 11
"I knew the dick—MacSwain. […] He had been a pretty good guy, straight as ace-deuce-trey-four-five, till he got on the force. Then he went the way of the rest of them. (11.25)
Chapter 12
"Just because a man's chief of police doesn't mean he's chief. Maybe you're a lot of trouble to somebody that can be a lot of trouble to me. Don't make any difference if I think you're a right guy....
Chapter 13
"It's Noonan you chiefly want, isn't it? Well, if you'll be a nice darling and lay off Max this time, I'll give you enough on Noonan to nail him forever." (13.12)
Chapter 14
"I promise you nothing," I said. "Why should I? I've got you with your pants down. Talk to me or Noonan. And make up your mind quick. I'm not going to stand here all night." (14.53)
Chapter 15
"I've got to have a wedge that can be put between Pete and Yard, Yard and Noonan, Pete and Noonan, Pete and Thaler, or Yard and Thaler. If we can smash things up enough – break the combination â€...
Chapter 16
"What's the idea of not wanting any of this information I'm offering? Think you can get it cheaper?""Information of that kind's not much good to me now. I've got to move quick. I need dynamite to b...
Chapter 17
I don't like being manhandled, even by young women who look like something out of mythology when they're steamed up. I took her arms off my shoulders, and said: "Stop bellyaching. You're still aliv...
Chapter 18
"Shall we go out and look at the remains?" I suggested, getting up.He neither got up nor looked up."No," he said wearily to his lap. "To tell the truth, I don't want to. I don't know as I could sta...
Chapter 19
Elihu Willsson opened the meeting.He said things couldn't go on the way they were going. We were all sensible men, reasonable men, grown men who had seen enough of the world to know that a man coul...
Chapter 20
They were evenly divided—Pete and Whisper against Noonan and Reno. But none of them could count on his partner backing him up if he made a play, and by the time the meeting was over the pairs had...
Chapter 21
I was lying face down on the dining room floor, my head resting on my left forearm. My right arm was stretched straight out. My right hand held the round blue and white handle of Dinah Brand's ice...
Chapter 22
I wanted a cigarette, but cigarettes were too well known as first aids to the nervous for me take a chance on one just then.McGraw was trying to look through my eyes. I let him look, having all sor...
Chapter 26
"You're going to have the mayor, or the governor, whichever it comes under, suspend the whole Poisonville police department, and let the mail-order troops handle things till you can organize anothe...
Chapter 27
I knew pain had stopped him, but I knew he would go on talking as soon as he got himself in hand. He meant to die as he had lived, inside the same tough shell. Talking could be torture, but he woul...