Ellison P. Balldridge is an impatient man. His impatience exceeds even his girth in size. But he especially hates waiting on docks at night. They are cold and damp and make his skin feel clammy. But it seems whenever he needs to get something into the country quietly, some boat has to bring it in the dead of night. So here he stands with his trusted assistant Frank and a couple of hired goons straining to hear the sounds of an incoming rowboat.

The docks before the action started.

"Boss?'

"Shhh."

"But Boss?"

"What is it Frank?"

"The monkey is gone again."

"^&%@$& ^@%$&. I told you to hold onto him! Now take those two morons I'm paying good money for and find him. I'll wait for the delivery."

"Yes Boss."

Ellison P. Balldridge hated waiting in the dark on the docks. But he especially hated the incompetent nincompoops he was surrounded by.

*****

(From L. to R.) A hired thug, Frank, Ellison P. Balldridge, another hired thug, and Walden the Monkey.

As Ellison waits on the docks, he notices a lot of activity around a couple of the warehouses. Something is up, and he is determined to find out what that is. He walks cautiously toward one of the warehouses, grabbing one of his men along the way.

He whispers to Frank,"Check out what's going in that warehouse, I'm going to check out this one. See if you can find out what all the hubbub is about."

"Yes Boss."

The fog is thick tonight and it makes seeing difficult down on the poorly lighted docks. As Ellison creeps forward, he notices that one group has slipped into one of the warehouses, he listens intently at the window and is able to pick up bits of conversation. They are searching for something the museum is after. With a taste for the more exotic, Ellison's ears perk up at this news.

He waits outside the warehouse while the group searches. This gives him the perfect vantage point to watch two more groups come out of the fog and move toward another warehouse. It's definitely a Tong gang and it looks like the other is some military unit, possibly German. They're on a collision course with one another and sure enough,when one of the Tong members tries to push a German away, all hell breaks loose!

Suddenly there is the rattle of Chicago typewriters everywhere! The Germans and Chinese seem intent on wiping each other out

The Germans and the Chinese Tong go at each other with all the firepower they can muster.

and the screams of the wounded echo along the waterfront.

****

Frank has slightly better luck at his building. He's able to get in and despite what seems to be a rabble of drunken transients, he works out a deal with a robed member of the group searching this building. In exchange for his help, the two would share whatever information they could uncover. Although the searching did just seem to bring more intoxicated combatants out of the woodwork, ultimately, the robed figure found what he was looking for.

But, as with all good plans, the fighting just seemed to draw the cops. And they poured into the area like water through a broken dike. They were everywhere, and as Frank and Nicky held off two of them, the robed figure slipped out the side door.

"The Boss ain't gonna like this one bit Nicky."

****

A robed cultist makes off with the goods while Frank and one of the hired goons hold off the cops.

Ellison, presses himself closer to the wall of the building and watches in morbid fascination as the Germans and Chinese continue to pound on one another. Two Germans already lie dead on the ground and most of the Chinese are in sorry shape.

Then the door opens in front of him. Several figures slip out and make their way toward a moored rowboat. Ellison is waiting to see if they had managed to find what they are looking for when one of the men opens fire with a shotgun on poor Jonny. Jonny goes down with a gaping hole in his chest. Now, Ellison is vengeful and this guy was simply a goon hired to help guard a crate Ellison was bringing into the country, but seeing him go down with no provocation sets his blood to a boil. He whips the sword out from the handle of his umbrella and skewers the man through the chest.

Walden, Ellison's mischievous pet monkey, immediately leaps onto another figure and claws and bites at the man. The two are a blur of fur and expensive suit. Walden's fez, gets knocked off and the monkey screeches in anger.

In all the commotion, a fourth figure slips out of the warehouse and darts past Ellison. Not being a "runner type" Ellison can

Moments before the hired goon takes a shotgun blast to the chest.

only watch as the man makes his way quickly to the dock. Puffing along after him, he takes a few shots to try and stop him.

This apparently all occurred during a lull in the fighting between the Germans and the Chinese, as they both notice the action and set aside their differences to also chase the man heading for the rowboat. Soon, bullets are flying at this guy from all directions. Ellison and Frank, two Germans and a Tong member all open up on this one guy, who despite being hit several times, refuses to go down.

But, it is too little too late. The man had enough of a head start and is able to escape in the rowboat. Ellison, panting and sweaty, shrugs his shoulders and walks off into the fog. He does not find out about the cultists and their prize until the ride home. His berating of Frank lasts from Brooklyn all the way to Central Park West.

The drunk behind the wheel careened wildly down the street, but the Germans and Tong were oblivious to their impending doom.

The Germans and Chinese, well, to add insult to all their injuries, just as they watch the rowboat disappear into the night, a drunk in a stolen truck plows into two of their members killing one istantly and sending the other to the infimary with two broken arms.

*****

Ellison learns much later that another group was also in the area and made off with another of the prizes. All in all, four things slipped through his grasp in one night. He decides to punish Frank by making him load up the luggage for a very long trip. One of his stoolies is able to provide him with the movements of a cetain black-robed group and Ellison is determined to find out what they are after.

Finis