Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 74: what you’re looking at

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

64 walked Othee’s main street up one side and down the other, felt he had just about ex- hausted the attractions. He hadn’t come to Othee to see the town, anyway. It was just one more dot on the road map, one milestone nearer to the Eureka Plant in Jersey City. Escape from his wife and doctor had been simpler than he anticipated. With her daughter’s impending domestic crisis claiming her attention, Maude Smith had been glad to be rid of the care of her hus- band so long as she knew he would be in safe hands. And the specialist approved the change for him. They had tarried long enough in Yosemite for the fugitive to plant a series of pre-dated letters home— letters reporting his well-being which would be mailed from time to time, thanks to a well-bribed hotel bellboy. His wife’s cor- respondence would be forwarded and await-. ing him in Chicago. Then they started over the coast-to-coast trail. All went well until Othee. There ignition trouble halted them, and while the car was being over- hauled with the terrible leisure of garage mechanics John Smith raged up and down the street. Fuming at the stupidity of Othee and the mid-afternoon heat, which was some- thing to remember, John Smith turned into a shaded side thoroughfare. A sign brought him to a halt, excited and incredulous. “ It ean’t be!” he exclaimed. ‘‘ The thing’s out of the question. Still, it might be a rela- tive of his. I'll ask.” The sign was over a store—a dejected, dusty, small-town store, which seemed about ready to give up the ghost and be done with an unsympathetic world. The sign announced: CASPAR LANING—HARDWARE John Smith walked into the store. His critical eye saw that it was empty of cus- tomers, saw that dust-covered stock crowd- ed every available inch of floor space and impeded his progress; saw on every hand evidence of failure. A round little man came out of the shadows at the rear. His babyish face had brightened hopefully at sound of footsteps. Customers were a rare event with him. It was Caspar himseli— ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. Caspar, assistant sales manager at the Eu- reka plant, John Smith’s friend and crony for twenty-five years. Caspar reported himself with numerous pauses to massage his bald head with the old-time circular motion that- told of his perturbed mind. “ You see, Johnny, after Bird fired me—” “ Bird!” John Smith snorted. ‘“ He’s gone mad with thé idea that anybody too old for rompers is too old to carry on busi- ness. Wants to make a day nursery out of the Eureka plant! Id like to see him dare fire you while I was there!” “Vez. Well, he fired me anyhow. And J had a couple of thousand dollars I’d saved, and I always wanted to own a busi- ness of my own. Wanted something I could build up. I—I had an idea I could sell things—”’ ‘Caspar, you always were a natural- born fool—” “IT suppose so, Johnny. I saw an ad- vertisement offering this business for sale, and I came here. The owner, Mr. Albee, had a good little proposition. You S8e; it was the only hardware store in town— ‘““T saw one on Main Street just now, Caspar—” “Yes, I know,” Caspar sighed. ‘‘ This was the only one when I came. Albee’s price seemed reasonable. JI raised the money—I pawned my life insurance, you see—and bought him out. It was under- stood between us that he was going out of business—”’ * And he didn’t!” “You guessed it, Johnny. He started that store you saw on Main Street two months after I came in here. He gave me his word he wouldn’t—” “You ought to have a thing like that in writing, Caspar. & “Yes, I guess I should. But he looked honest. I guess, the fact is, from what I’ve heard, all Albee wanted was to sell this store to raise cash to take a better lo- cation. And there isn’t room for two stores in town.” Caspar sighed again, and began rubbing his bald head round and round. “The pup!” John Smith snorted. “ The low down, yellow pup!” 4A COMmlcloOOKSa COM