Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 124, No. 3 — page 15: what you’re looking at

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

JUNGLE LOVE. ing Miss Blonde in mind, she asked her- self: | ‘““So— why worry, why bother? So— why not have a good time?’”’ Why not cut loose from a cramped, irk- some existence? Did -opportunities lack? What then did the covert glances of youthfully dressed and rascally old satyrs spell? They showed no cloven hoof or forked tail, and no horns adorned their bar- bered heads> Was there any real penalty in expanding to their bland, inviting smiles? Was not the acceptance of a little dinner and so on the usual thing with the blonde? Were not nice surprises in the form of furs, a classy wrist watch, and mid- night entertainments as generously ten- dered to a biue-eyed, silky-headed bru- nette, as to a bleached blonde? Could not Julie herself put behind her the days of stint and satisfy her craving for the delu- sive joys money can buy? - Luxurious ripe fruits, juicy and tempt- ing, are pictured as pouring in an inex- haustible stream from the horn of plenty; but we have seen eye-captivating Bartletts of tinted soap, and desirable-looking Con- cord grapes of blown, empty bubbles and painted, synthetic bloom. Broadened in scope a little, the warning: Stop, look, and listen, applies to other dangers beside those that wait upon criminally rash speed hogs at level crossings. A tiny shiver ran down Julie’s back, her fingers played nervously with her hand-bag. She examined it contemplatively. It was prettily beaded. Saving up to buy it had deprived her of a multitude of other ar- ticles.” To get one thing always meant the sacrifice of another. Under ordinary cir- cumstances, what did the future hold for her? More years of grihding at the ma- chine and then— _ “Fourteenth Street,” shouted the con- ductor, and before the pressure of the brakes had brought the train to a stop, Julie made her choice. She didn’t put it into words, and still less did she know that the frame of mind she had adopted was to > lead her far, far afield. She was ripe for mischief, reckless and ready to make her maiden obeisance “to — clandestine oppor- tunity. — $89 ' & Right at the foot of the Fourteenth Street stairs—it was waiting for her. = CHAPTER II. _ ARTIE OPPORTUNE, ESQ. OT by a score or more the first to leave the train, Julie Somers reached the top of the stairs well ahead of the hurrying crowd disgorged to seek their several ways. Julie had rather a fussy way of walking, she wriggled her narrow shoul- ders and took short, mincing steps; but by a series of quick darts and more than one unceremonious shove, she passed her com- petitors. There was no purpose, no de fined object for her haste, no malice in her rudeness. There could not be, for Julie didn’t know it is vulgar to shove, rude to push. Hurry, scurry for no cause or pur- pose was an unconscious, mechanical habit, that was all. It is not ungeneral. Down the first flight she pattered, her high heels clicking, her eyes roaming. She looked bright, intelligent, and might have been taking interest and pleasure in the ten hundred and one attractions of the ave- nue. Below her as she tripped across the bridge there lumbered a load of fragrant hay. A cream enameled monster, twelve cylinder monarch of miles and speed on the great highways that ribbon valleys and skirt mountains, purred softly, sedately by. A girl in a scarlet sweater, poppy like on a field of drab ran across the street. <A slouch-footed, furtive-eyed boy carried a basket of roses crucified to sticks. All these and more-did Julie’s eyes look down upon, and she saw—nothing. No image was reg- istered in her brain, no record made upon her memory. She looked as if she per- ceived, as if the joy of life was in her; but in reality her mind, to which the eyes are but windows, was a blank to all but her- self. Unlonely because she had never known friendship; unmoral for she could not spiritually discriminate between the moral and immoral. Purity, equally with viciousness, is a matter of habit, education, and a probing sense of comparative values. Julie was atune only to certain impres- sions. One of these made itself manifest . comiclooolkks (COL