A word of advice. Don't ever sneak into Satan Hall's apartment and try to kill him in his sleep. Johnny tried it, here in this 1932 issue of DFW.
He stepped two spaces forward; he pressed the button of the flash; he laid the nose of the heavy automatic almost against Satan’s head. But he held the flash so that Satan would see the gun.
Green eyes opened and seemed to stare straight into Johnny’s eyes, and there was nothing of fear in them. Just the same cold, cruel, sinister eyes that had looked at Johnny down at Hickey Moran’s place. And for the first time in his life, Johnny knew fear. The hand that held the gun trembled. He thought only of firing that gun, killing Satan - blotting out those sinister deadly eyes and getting away.
His right hand moved; his right index finger flexed, and there was the single roar of the gun. A roar that vibrated through the room. But there was no sudden dart of orange blue flame; no smell of burning powder, just the roar of a heavy automatic. And a man died.
Guess who died? Guess who sleeps with a .45 under the covers?
More illustrated adventures of Satan Hall coming soon.
What an unwelcome turn of events for Johnny! He should have known better.
ReplyDeleteSo true, Oscar.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the entries on Satan Hall, one of the Daly characters I've yet to check out. You might like my own appreciation of Daly at my blog, which you can read by clicking here:
ReplyDeletehttp://briandrake88.blogspot.com/2009/10/carroll-john-daly-deserves-more-respect.html
Nice Daly piece, Brian. I look forward to seeing more on your blog. I rounded up all his books and a good-sized pile of pulps back in the 80s and enjoyed them all. I have another 10 or so Satan Hall entries lined up, and haven't even gotten around to discussing Race Williams yet. I believe most of Daly's novels and an assortment of stories are now available for download from Vintage Library.
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