Adventure Magazine Cover — page 70: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

60 Riccardo,” and with that Maggie raised her eyes to the stranger she had mistaken for a waiter. She gave so surprized a gasp that it was obvious she recognized the man; but a slight gesture kept her silent. JACK had quit being surprized at anything that happened. He looked at the man abstractly and seemed indifferent as to whether he was a waiter or not. The girl’s attitude was eoretainied The caste system is scarcely less defined in gangland than in India; and this man she knew by sight as one with a reputation for a killer and an underworld Brahmin. His voice was low, soft, but not very pleasant. He was rather expert at bluffing, so he opened the conversation easily by setthng himself at the table and asking— _ “What’s the row between you and Butch?” Naturally it seemed that Butch had re- covered, tetephoned to various places and already spread the news. Maggie was troubled. She began to tell the story; but the stranger appeared to pay no attention, and most of the time was watching Jack. He even intérrupted to ask— “You haven’t been in New York long?”’ “About—let’s see—five or six hours. What time is it? Oh, I’ve been here about eight hours.” ‘“‘And you are from—— “California.”’ ‘Your name happens to be——”’ “Richmond. Jack Richmond.” The stranger smiled slightly. He had thin, cold lips; and other people than Jack had thought him insultingly remote of manner and aloof even while asking im- pertinent questions. But as a matter of fact Jack mistook him for Riccardo, of whom Maggie had spoken so emphatically. Maggie went on with her story, and grew excited as she went. She told it all with naive frankness, but swore up and down that she had struck Butch to keep him from the chair. He would have killed the kid. There was now nothing of the seductive baby-talk in her voice. She was a daughter of gangland, talking for her life, squaring herself. She knew that the man to whom she talked was close in with Riccardo, but even a caste or two above him. What 99 Adventure this man said to Riccardo would have weight; what Riccardo said to Butch would be law. “ . . now if ’m a lar may the—— catch me ‘fore I takes another breath. I give it to this boy too strong about Butch bein’ a walloper. He does slam me around some, but who’s got a better right ’n him? Well, I don’t throw a scare into this kid a-tall. ‘“Sav—" and she turned half-wrathful eyes on him— “he don’t scare worth a sour bean. He puts Butch in the air with two tov cannons that I never knowed he had; an’ Butch thinks it’s the double x I’m handing him. So you see where I stood to get off, right from the time the ponies got away. ee The man wrote a note, called a waiter and sent it out. = Butch ‘ll croak me sure. And I wouldn’t give him the throw-down for a millyon dollars. I wouldn’t. Honest. He ought to know it, too. It ’d ’a’ been a jolt o’ the juice in the chair f’r him if I hadn’t beaned him. Don’t you see it would? I’m telling vou straight. “And honest, I didn’t want to see this kid get hurted. He’s all right, only he just didn’t understand about me an’ Butch.”’ The humiliation of disillusionment bore down heavily on the boy. He sat dejected, ashamed, angry. From the girl’s lips he heard that she had trapped him on the street-and carried him off, all merely as an every-day incident in her way of life. Just to trim him for his roll. He felt as sickened as if awakening from a pipe of ven-shee. There is nothing more humbling than to know that one has been a fool with the idea of being very gallant. He refused to seem to be listening to what was said, but sat with eyes averted. av] AN HOUR later there were certain ee) developments. a Riccardo had come in response to the note. He eyed the boy with unusual interest, twisted his little spiked mustache, blinked his dark, zimlet eves. He scarcely noticed the girl. She was only a cheap little crook, known to him by sight; and Riccardo did not, like to en- courage the idea that women could come to him when they quarreled with their sweet- hearts. But the boy interested him greatly. cCOmiclboolks CO