Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 66: what you’re looking at

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

56 | ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. be quiet. Come in boys,” he called to the rest of the gang. ‘“ Keep them up there, you!” he directed Eddie, who was standing a little to the left of Val and had shown signs of being tired of the position. ‘If this here cannon goes off, you’re liable ter git an awful headache, t? say nothin’ of cotchin’ cold account ’er th’ air bein’ let through yer.” “Just what can I do to oblige you boys?” said Val pleasantly. “If there is any little thing I can do, any little favor, why, just say the word—” “Yes, yer kin keep mum an’ move over here till I relieves yer of any stray gats yer may have about yer poison—git me?” Val nodded, his hands up in the air, and half turned to glance at Eddie, who had remained suspiciously quiet and immobile. Their eyes met, and in that brief glance he told him to be ready to jump for it at an instant’s. notice—to hold himself. pre- pared for anything. The men. gathered around them as Val moved forward to the center of the room, right under the gas jet. He made a motion as though to lower his hands. ‘Keep dem fins up a minit, you!” or- dered’ the little unshaven tough sharply. Like lightning Val’s hands shot up. He had gauged the distance exactly, and his right hand came in contact with the cock of the gas jet. With a snap of. his fingers he turned it, leaving the room in instant black darkness. : “Jump, Eddie!” he shouted, leaping from his own place instantly. It was well that he did so, because the blackness of the room was punctured by a vivid barking flash as a gun went off, filling the room with acrid smoke. In an instant the six men in the room were a tangle of striking arms and legs, each fearing to shoot, not knowing which was friend and which was foe. With a fearful, vivid joy, Val and Eddie plunged into the mass, striking, throwing aside, kicking. Val’s big arms picked up a cursing body and threw it, knocking down furniture and men. He jumped into the thick of the struggling humans, pounding viciously with - his hamlike fist and his revolver butt. At the door the mix-up was thickest. A figure jumped at Eddie. There was the sharp crack of a human fist on bone, and the man slumped down unconscious, as clean a knockout as was ever made. “Through the door, boss!” shouted Ed- die. “‘ Right-o!” shouted Val, plunging for the entrance. A figure blocked his way. He picked it up and threw it through the door. It struck the stairs halfway-down and rolled on. “Now for it, young feller me lad!” shouted Val. Down the stairs they plunged, Val and Eddie. A revolver barked three times after them, but they felt nothing. The doors in the apartments were closed— it. was not a good time to open doors.. Out into the street they burst, both of them, with a couple of shouting men in pur- suit. Now figures popped out of doors and took up the chase. “* To the taxi, Eddie!” shouted Val. “Yes, sir,” returned Eddie, and fifty yards ahead of their pursuers they made speed. They rounded the corner to the car. The corner was bare of automobiles. The taxi had gone. They glanced back for an instant. The pursuit was hot, and the pursuers’ numbers had been augmented. “Stop thief!” some one shouted, and the neighborhood, which a moment before. had been silent and slumberous, suddenly be- came a living maelstrom of humanity, swirling, streaming after the fugitives. “To the subway!” panted Eddie. They turned at an acute angle and headed for the subway kiosk, two blocks away. Through the night-streets of the East Side they dashed, with the crowd after them; but nobody stopped their progress, because, in the excitement, Val had forgot- ten to put away his gun, and he was still brandishing it as he ran. At last, still fifty yards to the good, they reached the kiosk. Down the stairs they clattered, only to see the tail lights of a train pulling out. Too late! A thunderous noise made itself heard in the tunnel. COnicoooksSse©