Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 19, 1924 — page 82: what you’re looking at

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

Ory ase Pi _ night before. 5o2 in a rage or scared stiff! I fancy the latter, since she was warned not to mention it. The man he expected was the man who killed De Puyster Monckton!” CHAPTER XIV. AN UNEXPECTED REUNION, N Saturday afternoon when George was awakened by Katie, the cham- , bermaid, to learn that the kind samaritan of the night before had stolen a march on him, he lay for some time after she had left the room mentally kicking himself, He saw it all now! Radwick had been ‘“‘on ” from the moment that his new next- door neighbor stepped into the elevator to descend with him late the previous after- “noon, but to be sure he was trailed he had ‘taken that devious, apparently aimless stroll, and a pretty dance he had led George! That accounted for his restlessness dur- ing the evening when he had popped in and out of the theater and moving picture house, and he was assured of the truth and pre- pared to face the issue when he started back to the hotel! George emitted a far more realistic groan than during his simulated suffering of the What a complacent, self- satisfied old fool he had been! How Rad- wick must have laughed in his sleeve all the time! He’d doped that dose of peppermint, all right, and then sat there calmly waiting for it to take effect, and meanwhile amused: himself by giving George rope enough to hang himself. And he’d done it, higher than a kite! ~The chagrined Shadower writhed in spirit as he recalled that conversation. Radwick hadn’t noticed Richard particularly on board ship—oh, no! He wouldn’t express any opinion about the murder for a con- foundedly good reason, and he’d had the gall to laugh when he said that never hav- ing contemplated crime himself he couldn’t tell how a man would act under such cir- cumstances. — So he’d been played for a sucker, had ~ ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. he? George flung the covers wrathfully aside and sprang out of bed with an energy that belied his years. The game wasn’t over yet, even though he’d been outplayed, and he’d show that long nosed, wall eyed son of a sneak who the come-on was before he was through! Fate and his own cocksure carelessness had given him two stiff handicaps; the other man knew him and knew his purpose, even if he couldn’t know what faction he repre- sented. Moreover, Radwick had an eight hour start and would cover his tracks as he hadn’t bothered to do when he left the pier. It didn’t matter. George had a purely personal as well as professional motive now and nothing should stand in his way! As he dressed hurriedly and rang for coffee he gave the situation earnest thought. He could only hope to get on Radwick’s trail again by outguessing him. If the fel- low thought he was a natural born fool, so much the better. Radwick was shrewd, alert to grasp a situation and quick in his decisions, with a devilish sens@ of humor and almost uncanny self-possession. What would be his reaction to the knowledge that he was under espionage and what step would he take beyond the initial one of departing in short order? : Assuredly he would not go far from the scene of the crime, at least until the man he had trailed for so many months was indicted for it. Whatever his object, he had remained here before he knew that he was being watched and he must continue to do so. Descending to the lobby, George bought a cigar and newspaper. Seating himself in a big leather chair near the entrance he smoked and scanned the headlines of the afternoon’s news. There were no develop- ments of any moment in the Monckton case. The authorities gave sanguine but vague assurance that the problem would be cleared up immediately and the mur- derer put on trial in record time, but the reporters themselves looked upon the ar- rest of Richard Monckton as a “ material witness ’’ as being conclusive, and without fear of libel, expressed their views more definitely. The sob sister of the sheet, too, ~came out with the usual maudlin tale en- Gomicvdooks- co 5}