I'm not seeing much talk about pre-1930 writing! I'll post
about a couple of Hammett short stories I read. THE BIG
KNOCKOVER is easy to carry around and read on the subway, so
I'm working through that.
"The Gutting of Couffignal" (BLACK MASK, December 1925) was
right in the middle of a stream of Continental Op stories
from 1924-1929 that lead up to RED HARVEST and THE DAIN
CURSE, after which Hammett only went back to the character
twice.
The Op is guarding the presents at a high-society wedding in
a rich man's house on an island enclave north of Frisco. In
the middle of the night, explosions and gunshots start.
Apparently a gang is holding up the whole little town: they
blew up the post office, they destroyed the bridge, they've
got a machine gun set up on the back of a truck. The whole
place is in an uproar. The Op starts looking around, with a
Russian princess who was at the wedding tagging along.
There's no big showdown against a gang of villains, in fact,
the Op never really finds them. He chases around from here to
there, hiding behind houses, trying to follow the action. The
Op clears it all up in the end, rattling off a string of
observations that let him figure out what was really going
on. I liked the last line:
| "Stop, you idiot!" I bawled at her.
| Her face laughed over her shoulder at me. She walked
without
| haste to the door, her short skirt of gray flannel shaping
itself
| to the calf of each gray wool-stockinged leg as its mate
stepped
| forward.
| Sweat greased the gun in my hand.
| When her right foot was on the doorsill, a little
chuckling
| sound came from her throat.
| "Adieu!" she said softly.
| And I put a bullet in the calf of her leg.
| She sat down--plump! Utter surprise stretched her
white
| face. It was too soon for pain.
| I had never shot a woman before. I felt queer about
it.
| "You ought to have known I'd do it!" My voice sounded
harsh
| and savage and like a stranger's in my ears. "Didn't I
steal a
| crutch from a cripple?"
Those are nice sentences. Also: "You can't fight machine guns
and hand grenades with peaceful villagers and retired
capitalists."
Bill
-- William Denton : Toronto, Canada : http://www.miskatonic.org/ : Caveat lector.
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