Adventure Magazine Cover — page 61: what you’re looking at

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

The Great Keegles takes among so many—persons.” She nodded toward the other benches. Keegles’ face was only partly revealed in the glare of the electric lamp. The broad brim of his felt hat effectually concealed his eyes from her. But she could see that his lips were wreathing into a smile. “Might I ask what you require from the gentleman for whom you are searching?” he inquired gravely. “Why I ? She hesitated, biting her lips. “That would depend a great deal upon the gentleman.” She hesitated again and then went on impulsively. ‘Would you let me see your face?”’ He laughed, pushing back his hat and showing her a face with a firm mouth, a good chin and a pair of clear, steady, gray eyes. She gave a little gasp and stepped forward to peer closer at him. ‘“Keegles!” she said inalow,awedtone. ‘‘The great Keegles!”’ He laughed quietly. “‘The great Keegles,” he repeated after her, bitterly. “Behold him now a mere atom among four million other atoms, stripped of his football fame and doomed, like Hamlet’s ghost, to walk the night—or sleep on a bench.” Se heard him. She was leaning for- ward, her eyes alight with joy. “I am so glad it is you!” she said. “I was terribly frightened when I first approached —you looked so big, so grim, sitting there on the bench. And yet’’—she stepped close to him and seized his arm, pressing it con- fidingly—‘‘some subtle sixth sense told me you were a gentleman! It gives me the shivers to think what might have happened if I had passed you to choose one of the others.” She pressed his arm again. ‘Oh, Keegles, I am so glad!” He felt her hand tremble. Evidently, she was glad. He leaned down, peering into her face. ‘You are in trouble, Miss Hayden,” he said gravely. “Can I help you?” She looked up at him thankfully. ‘Oh, I knew you would! But it isn’t trouble, Keegles—it’s only adventure. You see, I came down here to-night to hire a man who is willing to be kidnapped!” She smiled with a frank delight. ‘And I find Keegles —the great Keegles!’’ She watched him a moment, breathlessly. “Ts Keegles going to refuse?” she said with an indescribable appeal in her voice. He grinned down at her broadly. ‘“ Miss APPARENTLY the girl had not 817 Hayden,” he said, “‘ Keegles is ready to be kidnapped.” She gave a little exclamation of delight, and he felt the trembling fingers again on his arm. ‘‘Isn’t it odd that I should find you— of all men?”’ ‘Rather odd,” he returned; ‘‘but quite in accord with my other experiences of late.” “You have been doing New York?” ‘Quite the other way around,” helaughed. “New York has been doing me. And now, after being downed within a yard of goal, a certain person of my acquaintance seeks me out with a request that I allow myself to be kidnapped. Iam ready. Will there be a scrimmage?” “There will be no scrimmage,” she said, laughing. “It promises to be quite a tame affair.” His face showed a slight disappointment. “I was in hopes that there might be a scrim- mage,” he said. ‘‘New York has been so unkind to me that I shouldn’t object to any- thing short of a riot or an insurrection.” She smiled, consulting the small time- piece that swung from a chatelaine attach- ment at her waist. ‘It is one-thirty now,” she said. ‘‘ You will be kidnapped at three. I am going to take you to a certain house on Twenty-fourth Street. We can take a taxi and be there in ten minutes.” They went rapidly to the brightly lighted side of the square, where he hailed a vacant taxicab. He assisted her in, and she gave some instructions to the chauffeur. When the door slammed behind them she turned to him with a smile. ‘* Now tell me what has befallen the great Keegles,’”’ she said. ‘‘ Have you been look- ing for a position in New York?” “Yes, looking. After one or two sad ex- periences elsewhere. I have been here for two weeks and had found nothing—until yesterday.” “And then?” “Then I went into the office of the North- western Construction Company. The chief engineer told me that I was just the man they had been looking for. They wanted a single man who could go out West in some God-forsaken hole and live for two years like a savage. The chief seemed to think that was just what I was cut out for. But even that isn’t certain. I’m to return there at three o’clock to-day to be introduced to the president of the company. After he has looked me over and probed me to ascertain CoMmiclbook ©