Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 89: what you’re looking at

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

GENTLEMAN ROGER’S GIRL. smoothed out of Hal’s face. For the first time in many days he was not worrying about where next week’s meals were coming from. This night they had not even the piano- organ to fidget their nerves. They could see it under a shed in the yard. Celesta commented on it. “We got it going last night,” Hal said. ““I suppose Tony has been out on his rounds all day. Business is bad for the dago, like the rest of us. He and his wife want to get®to Montebello, where their folks live. He’d sell the grind-organ for their fare, if he could find a buyer.” They discussed their own plans for the future. ‘We must save money,” said Celesta with a wise air, “so we can move out of this place.” “ And out of this damned town!” added Roger. “We want a better place, of course,” said Hal; “but I think we’d better stay here in Westmoreland as long as my job holds. It would have been better if we could have pushed right through to Mon- tebello in the beginning, but now of course all my haunts and all my friends there are watched. A job is a job!” ‘Perhaps we could find a little place in the suburbs,” said Celesta. In the midst of their talk there came a knock at the door. They glanced at one another in alarm. ‘They had heard no one come upstairs. Few came to their door. That knock reminded them of how preca- rious their situation was after all. Roger, who was not wearing his feminine dress, slipped into the inner room as noise- lessly as a cat. Hal went to the door and opened it, keeping his hand on the handle. An odd silence succeeded. Hal said nothing. Presumably there was somebody outside, but he said nothing either. Ce- lesta could not see on account of the half- opened door. Her heart began to beat. She stood up. She heard Hal say in a strange, thick voice: “You damned scoundrel!” Joe Campas walked into the room, grin- ning. He was quite finely dressed in a bright blue suit and a shirt with a starched 715 pink collar; an expensive panama hat. He had a little package in his hand. His heavy, reddish face was wreathed in a malicious grin. Impossible to say whether the malice was intentional. “ Hello, folks,” he said. Celesta, with a little gasp, sat down again. She had no illusions about Campas now. Not after the cunning way in which he had cleared himself of all responsibility for Roger’s escape, and fixed the blame on Hal. Celesta had a horror of him. “You don’t seem very w> . fixed here,” said Campas, looking around, ‘ Where’s Roger? I heard him.” “Listening at doors seems to be your specialty,” said Hal. Campas only grinned. Hal had closed the door and put his back against it. His head was lowered, his face dark with anger. “You'd better get out of here before I hurt you,” he muttered. Campas gave him scowl for scowl. “ You’d better not try that on,” he said threateningly. “Well, for one thing I’d plug a hole through you,” said Campus, tapping his hip pocket. “ Afterward I’d put you in jail, all three of you! And take the reward.” Hal, with a groan of balked rage, walked toward the window. Campas resumed his grin. of reception you give me! man out of jail, didn’t I?” “You'd better not say anything about that,” muttered Hal. ‘“ Remember, we read the papers.” “ Ah-h, you wouldn’t expect me to take the blame on myself when you were safe out of the way,” said Campas. “ Be rea- sonable.” Hal was silent. “Why don’t you ask me how I found you?” Campas continued with his cunning, self-pleased grin. ‘I only been out five days. The police have been looking for you five weeks, and they ain’t found you yet. I figured same as they did, that you’d made for Montebello. When they didn’t catch you there, I figured you’d been held up somewhere. I just went around to the prin- “Nice kind I got the old CORMICLOOOkKS (E@)