Adventure, December 1914 — page 117: what you’re looking at

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

A Man With Nine Lives THE door opened to admit a very ee different person from Miss Bucknell; a fairly tall, squarely built, powerful looking man, whose appearance could hardly be described as prepossessing. When he saw Mr. Adair he slipped rather than stepped into the room, closed the door, and stood with his back against it. There was something in the way in which he looked at the other which was eminently unfriendly. There was a threat in the tone of his voice. “So it’s you!”’ he said. “That is so. And it seems to be you. And who may you be?” “Don’t you know me? You think. You look round inside your head and you'll re- member who I am.” “I’ve seen some scoundrels in my time, and possibly you’re one of them—I’m not able to say exactly which.” Adair’s coolness seemed to annoy the other. “That’s the way you talk, is it? Seen some scoundrels, have you? Sohavel. I’m looking at one now!” As he said this the newcomer looked at Mr. Adair with something in his glance which was unpleasantly significant. He was a low-browed man, with a square face and a still squarer jaw. His nose, with its wide nostrils, was not only flat; something seemed to have happened to it, so that it was a little ononeside. He had high cheek- bones, curiously small eyes. His mouth was huge. As he looked at Mr. Adair his lips, parting in an ungenial grin, showed that several of his front teeth were missing. Dark stubble covered the greater part of his skin, giving him an unwashed look. He wore a suit of gray tweed which was by no means new. A red, bird’s-eye cotton handkerchief twisted around his throat took the place of a collar. There was something about the whole man which suggested a bull—his small eyes, unintellectual head, short neck, deep chest, broad shoulders. Mr. Adair was possibly taking in these de- tails as he seemed to be considering what might be the meaning of the almost savage hostility with which the stranger regarded him. The question which he presently put suggested that, so far as he was concerned, the problem remained unsolved. ‘You appear to be a pleasant sort of man. I really do not remember having met you before. You know who I am?” 115 The other’s manner as he replied was al- most ferocious. “Do I know who you are! Come off of it! Where do you think I was that Tuesday night?” Mr. Adair smiled, as if he were inclined to think the man an amusing study. “You pique my curiosity. To what Tues- day night do you refer?”’ ‘“‘The Wednesday morning—it was the Wednesday morning when the old man who lived here was found dead, wasn’t it? And the night before was Tuesday. Very well; that’s the Tuesday night I mean. Now you've got it.” “T do seem to have got something, but I’m afraid I don’t quite know what.”’ The stranger’s reply was curious, clearly conveying a meaning which was not on the surface. “T’ve got the rope around your neck; that’s what I’ve got!”’ “Have your This is interesting. And what is the object of your visit here?”’ “TI didn’t look to find you here, and so I tell you. You’ve got a nerve to show your- self inside this room. You must have some pretty deep game on, you must. It must be something very funny to bring you here. But since you are here I may as well havea bob or two.” “From whom?” Mr. Adair’s smile was bland. “Who from? Why, from you. How much money have you got on you?” “T have quite a quantity. “Then you’ve been lifting it. That’s what your game is; you’ve had the nerve to come here and run the rule over that old man’s things. All right; sobeit. I’m will- ing, only—we’ll go halves, you and I, if you don’t mind. To begin with, you turn your pockets out and let’s see what’sin them.” “That by way of a beginning? You have your own ideas. And after?”’ “T’ll show you what’s after. You tum out your pockets. Or shall I save you the trouble and do it for you?”’ The stranger moved toward Mr. Adair with an air of truculence which some persons might have found uncomfortably suggestive. If it had any distressing effect on the gentle- man approached he managed to conceal the fact. His smile was, if anything, blander than before. “What’s your fighting weight?” MICLOOOK C©