Adventure Magazine Cover — page 160: what you’re looking at

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

154 word was clear-cut and incisive. His slim, long-fingered hands were motionless except as he carried his cigar to his lips. He paused a moment to get up and drop the stub into the ash receiver. ““As I said, Hayden is staying on the top of a mountain in Farran County with some henchmen. There is no question that all of them would fight to the death—you know what the Postmaster General announced recently about mail-robbers, do you not?” “Tt was plenty,” nodded O’Malley. ““There are several facets to the situation. In the first place, that little nucleus of men is well supplied with artillery and am- munition ranging from machine-guns down. In the second place, their dwelling place is so strategically advantageous that it might take a hundred men dead and wound- ed before they could be captured. The only road leading to the, hunting cabin where Hayden has his headquarters is narrow and winding, like all those mountain roads, and by reason of a three or four hundred foot precipice and some other details of the country a dozen men could hold the place for a considerable time against ten times their number. “But most important, we want Hayden alive, and the fact that we have him must be unknown. As I said, we know vaguely, without many details, that he heads this vast organization. But we have come to a stone wall in our efforts to find who the biggest culprits under him are, or all the ramifications of the conspiracy, We be- lieve that Hayden is the only living man— at least the only one we can get our hands on—who can tell all. And the moment he was killed or it was known that he was captured, every criminal under him would be gone. The organization would probably disappear in a night. My mission is to capture him, alive, and with nobody but the men with him in that cabin knowing it. We will see to it that they do not spread the news, because every escape they have will be guarded, and they will be in a state of siege up there without any method of send- ing news to the outside world. Their im- mediate capture is unimportant, but we can take no chances of an attack for fear of killing Hayden. If we get him, we can make him talk, I believe. We will use almost any measures.”’ “You have quite a contract, I should say,” remarked the general, tapping on his Adventure desk with a penholder. “TI thought I might have a glimmering of what you wanted from us, but what you say about getting him alive changes things.” ‘No, I don’t want any bombs dropped on him,” returned Graves with a smile. It was a singularly warm and winning smile, lightening the subtle hardness of his face. The sardonic hint around his mouth disap- peared, and his eyes seemed to reflect the smile in their depths. “‘Now as to what I do want,’’ he went on aftera moment. He seemed to be incapable of detouring for more than the smallest of intervals from the business at hand. “It would be impossible for any of our operatives to get close enough to the place to capture Hayden without publicity, or without fight- _ ing for their lives, except in the manner I have in mind. Before I describe to you my proposed method of getting Hayden, I want my men. Then I need only discuss the matter once.” “Just as you choose.” “T want two pilots and a Martin bomber, equipped with extra gas and oil and heavy machine-gun equipment—all she’ll handle, in case we need them. These two pilots— the ideal ones for my purpose—would be A. 1. flyers, first. That is probably the easiest of my requirements.”’ “You can’t throw a stone out of this window without hitting a real pilot,”’ stated the general. “We have the finest personnel in the world.” “T am inclined to believe you are right, general. Now secondly, it would be ad- visable that they be older men—none of your brilliant kids. Nobody must know that Hayden is captured—before a breath of it gets out we must make him talk, and then come down on his men all over the country in one swoop that will be the biggest coup in the history of the Department of Justice, so far as straight criminality goes. For this and other reasons, these fellows must be men of the utmost discretion.”’ “T can readily see your point,” agreed O’Malley, lighting a cigaret. “Next, I want men who have knocked around quite a bit—resourceful, able to handle themselves in any kind of a shindig whatsoever, and not afraid of or high water. Rather the soldier of fortune type, you know—lI think you get my idea. They will be asked to volunteer to do this thing with me, as a sporting proposition and as COMMICLOokKs (E@)