Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 139: what you’re looking at

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

THE BLACK TUBE. Craton quieted her as best he could, talk- ing in low, persuasive tones. In the end, after he had managed to quiet her—but not until she had cried her heart out—she gained some semblance of calm. She looked up again, red eyed, dabbing at her face with a tiny bit of lace, a sick at heart, woebegone little creature, fearful of her safety, dreading to speak, yet feeling that in some way this man—who seemed so kind—could help. Thus in the end, with careful questions, he had her story, told haltingly, but in detail. “We were going to that prize fight,” she admitted. ‘‘ We went out in the car and stopped to see Jim’s father. He wanted to get some money.” “ Did he think he would get it?” “I don’t know. No, he did say he might not have any luck. Said he’d tried—that his father wouldn’t give him what he wanted and there wasn’t any use going to some one else.” “Who was this some one else?” ““T don’t remember.” “ Didn’t he say he usually got his money through his father’s lawyer, a Mr. Marsh, and that his father wouldn’t give Mr. Marsh any more for him?” | “Something like that. Yes, he did men- tion a man by the name of Marsh.” ‘When you got to the house what hap- pened?” “Jim went in and I waited in the car. He was gone a long time.” “You don’t know what time you got there?” “T can’t remember, but I guess it was around nine o’clock. Oh, I forgot. As we drove up our lights fell on the house and a woman ran along the porch. Jim said it was his mother, and from the way he spoke, I guess he didn’t hitch with her any too well.” “Where was Mrs. Sands when you saw her?” “On the porch. Coming out the front door, I guess. At least, she came toward us. We ran by the house, and Jim got down and walked out into the road. He was looking around. I watched him until he went into the house.” 9A 129 “ Did he come out again?” The girl gave a shake of her head and the tears began to fill her eyes. “T never saw him again, alive,” she whis- pered. ‘“ I waited—how long I don’t know. It was all dark and woods around there and something Jim had said about his father made me think they might have had a quar- rel, I got nervous and finally I got out of the car and started toward the house. I saw a woman on the porch looking in one of the windows.” ‘ What time was this? house about nine.” “It was just quarter of ten. at the clock on the dash.” “You had waited a long time then.” “So long I was getting tired. I was afraid, too. I decided I’d get Jim to hurry, and so I went up on the porch and looked in the window and it was then I saw—” “What?” demanded Craton sharply. She gave a start at the sharpness of the question. “ Jim,’ she whispered. “ He was all white, with his mouth open, and his father—I suppose it was his father, a big man, he looked like Jim—he was dragging Jim out of a door back of a big sofa. I don’t knew what I thought or what I did. I wanted to scream. ““T started back and then I saw that the front door was open and I ran in. I went right into that room and then I got a good look at Jim and I saw he was dead. I cried out—I screamed, I guess, and said some- thing. J yelled at the other man, for I thought he had killed Jim, and he—he just dropped Jim and turned on me. Oh, he looked terrible. He started toward me and then—it was then that there was a shot.” “You thought Mr. Sands was coming fo you?” 3 The girl nodded. “So you raised your revolver,”’ pressed Craton. The girl’s eyes, big and staring, rested on Craton’s face. “You had brought the revolver with you, taking it out of your bag and leaving the You got to the I looked bag in the car,” he went on, when she re-. mained silent. ‘“ You had it in your hand. When Mr. Sands came toward you you pointed it at him.” GoOmicsooksnco