Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 29: what you’re looking at

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

THE FOURTH CHUM. pieces of coal which acted as a sort of bulkhead and held up the towering pile. Piece by piece the batman removed a length of retaining wall and the coal above slipped and, like a small avalanche, poured down upon the old man and covered him from head to foot. For another five minutes the batman worked, heaping the fuel above his victim, and then hastened back into the office, for it was coming time when he should be back in the clink after exercise period. He closed the door, picked up his basket of coal, and, bracing his shoulders, opened that door which led out into the Field Artillery Square. On second thought, he did not close it behind him; he left it open, so that any one looking into the dingy, cozy little bunk with its snappy fire and the simmering herring would think that the occupant of it had stepped out for a moment to get a bowl of tea from the dining hall. The men were still in the stables, and officers and sergeants stood in groups in the center of the square. The batman knew the risk that an unemployed man under- went when he showed himself during stable hours. Two routes lay open to him—one straight across the square, past the idling officers, to the big arched gate; and the other lay along the sides of the square under the galleries and, past the stable doors. There he would be running into bombardiers and corporals who would be especially zealous since they in turn were under the eyes of the ser- geants in the square. But all in all it appeared safer, for there might be a visiting officer from the Horse in the middle of the square, and whoever he met under the gallery would understand the contraband character of his load and might pass him along without a word. He began to walk slowly down the long line. A corporal bounced out of a door, peered at him for a moment, and snarled: “’Oo are you?” The batman turned, walked back, and thrust out a shoulder so that the other could see the brass letters there. ‘“ I’m in the ’Orse,” he said. And the corporal answered bitterly as he looked into the basket: ‘‘ Scrounging coal, 655 ‘ey? Strike me, if the gunners in the ’Orse don’t live better than the generals in the field!” . But he let him pass, and the batman con- tinued his slow progress. More than one N. C. O. glared at him and glanced ner- vously at the officers in the square. The batman expected at any moment to hear a voice sing out: “ Corporal, what is that man doing there? Ask his name and num- ber.” But he got past the first battery with- out mishap, and just beyond the white line that marked the division between batteries he turned off and slanted toward the arch. ‘“ Scutt!” said a voice; and the batman whirled to see the other dark skinned sol- dier who had told him tales of shooting officers. The man stood almost within reach of him. “°Op off!” said the batman in a low voice. He turned and began to walk again, but the cold sweat rolled down his spine, and it seemed as if all Woolwich must be staring at his back. He turned at the sound of footsteps; the other was following him, and the batman could see that he was calculating what profit there might be in betrayal. The batman turned and walked back. “Op off!” he said. ‘“ You ’ear?? If you peach on me, Ill peach on you! You killed an officer in France. You’d ’ang for it! As you were, you blawsted Judas!” For half a minute the batman’s blood- shot eyes glared into the paling face of the other. Then the man quailed and stepped away. : “ Righto, old chum. luck.” ‘““ Keep your trap closed then.” The batman walked on through the gate and into the main east and west axis of the garrison, a cobbled lane, walled on each side by barracks buildings pierced at every fifty feet by a narrow door leading to the upper rooms. On one end was Woolwich Common; on the other the road leading to London and to Blackheath. For a moment the batman hesitated as to which way he should turn; there was a guard on each gate, and it would be a half hour yet before those off duty could go in I’m wishing you 2 Gomilrebooks: com