Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 140: what you’re looking at

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

a ay) PUNO atk oR ." t " 2i% , 922 = himself when he entered a moment later, _ drenched and a little white, but with as _ bueyant a step as ever. “You've heard, Claudia? I was waiting im your office, Mr. Rowe, when I heard that — court had been adjourned at the start of the afternoon session and I knew that some- thing unexpected must have occurred. I didn’t think it wise to come here or send 2 message before—” “‘ Now that you’re here, Munson, tell us ~ what you know,” Dreyer interrapted terse- - ly. “ Zorn was called as a witness for the - prosecution at the opening of court this afternoon and then the announcement was made of his death. De you know when ~- #t occurred—and how?” Stephen nodded very gravely. ““T was waiting on the other side a the river for him,” he said. ‘“ He must have - been coming to keep his appointment, but the dust storm blinded him and he walked = | off the edge—” “Dust!” A creeping sense of awe stole over Claudia. Was it mere accident, after all, by which this man had come to his -- death at the moment when he was about to do her the greatest injury? Had some __ strangely beneficent fate, watching over her, ~ _yemoved him, as it had that other, from her _ path? “Ves. You must have heard the wind! -_ Jt was most unprecedented at this time of year, but so was the long drought we've had.” the back of his chair and removed his sod- ~.. den overcoat before seating himself. that all you’ve heard about Zorn? He didn’t want me te come again to that apart- -_ ment on the Concourse where he had a room Stephen hung his dripping hat on “ Is and it suited me because—well, you know what I had in mind if I couldn’t come to terms with him! When I think of it, and then of what happened anyway—vwell, it a kind of gives a fellow a queer feeling!” “T know!” Claudia murmured very low. -- _ “Oh. Stephen, I was so afraid—” - “Fe tried to double-cress us, anyway!” a a s jaw set. “ You've been teld where the body was found? You know the le- He: had turned to the attomeys and ee a nodded. _ ever the bridge, got the wallet from where ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. “ There are vacant lets and rocks = patches of woodland on the far side where the new road branches off from the old,” he remarked. “I don’t remember any house for a quarter of a mile or more.” — “That’s why I chose it,” explained Stephen. “IE was to meet him there at” half past eight. I reached the spot over the new bridge in plenty of time, but he didn’t appear. The wind was howling a perfect gale and driving clouds of dust ike solid walls before it; you couldn’t see your hand before your face when the gusts arose and it was almost impossible te breathe! There are several new buildings going upon - the city side of the river, yeu know, with heaps of loose-sand lying around, and Zorn must have been caught in a miniature des- ert storm. The barricade at the end of the bridge abutment had been blown away and believing that he was cressing the new span he must have simply stepped off into space! Lord, what an end!” “Was he drowned?” Claudia whispered fearfully. “E thought bodies usually sank at first! Hew was he found?” “The ambulance doctor called it heart disease; I heard him,” Stephen replied. “ waited there on the other side of the river for more than three hours walking up rocks as well as I could when a blast of wind came. It settled down to a steady blow as the sky grew darker, and I was wild, wondermg if Zorn had been located at the last minute by the authorities or what had happened to him! “ Then at last I saw a commotion at the other side of the bridge and a crowd be- ginning to collect at the abutment of the old one and somehow—I knew! You know what I was carrying? I hid it under a big stone in the let amd hurried across the bridge. Before I reached the other side I heard an ambulance gong, and when I pushed my way into the crowd they had just hauled Zorn up from the water. __ ing how he happened to see the body as he started to clear away the débris of the old barricade, and I —— only long enough to” = 1 a com cbooks-co 1