Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 7, 1925 — page 137: what you’re looking at

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

THE UNDER DOGS. “the light streaming out through the enc door of the cloak room; and occasionally ae murmured word in a man’s voice reached her, as one of the see ae in the game. Her first thought had been to sone herself in the other cloak room, but the door was closed, and it would be too risky to attempt opening it, immediately opposite — the door of the room where the men were. They were trained thief- -takers, she sup- posed, with eyes and ears on the alert. So she looked around for some other hiding place in the foyer, but there was none in that empty place. If any alarm was raised, the first act of the men naturally would be Jessie determined to act from the service corridor behind the to flood it- with. light. cloak room. She had first to dispose of the tiara. There was but one possible place for that; shoved down inside the top of her stocking, the curve of the ornament to her leg. - 2 folded up bag went with it. Jessie then retraced her steps to the 1 main floor of the house, where she unscrewed. a bulb from one of the side lights about the walls. One bulb was not heavy enough for her purpose, so she collected three, and tied them together with thread. She hung this cluster on a thread over the top of the door that led to the service stairway, — making sure that there was space,enough for the thread to pass freely back and forth when the door was closed. She then de- scended the stairway, paying out the thread from the spool as she went. There was a- little well in the middle of the stairway, down through which the thread might pass without having to turn any corners. Across the little central hall in the base- ment, and back thr ough the narrow Ccorri- dor toward the service entrance she went, paying out her thread, and continually pausing to make sure that it was still run- ning freely. Her principal anxiety was lest she might not. have enough thread; ‘but she remembered with satisfaction that most. spools are marked ‘ “xo yards,” and this was. a full spool. She arrived outside the door to the cloak room with plenty. to spare. — _ Wrapping the end of the thread era : her se she cast a light oe her 607 watch. it was then three fifteen, that is to say, the exact moment that she had told me to get busy in the street outside. She gave me five minutes, seven minutes, to do my job. ‘Meanwhile, with her ear to the -erack of the door, oe listened to the slap of the cards on the table, and the murmurs of the two men as they ee their points. - When the proper moment arrived, she gave the thread a tug, and it broke. In- stantly she had the satisfaction of hearing a sound like an Sues within. the depths of the house. 7 The two men in the cloakroom leaped up, knocking their chairs over backwards, ‘and ran out. Jessie instantly opened the door. The little wall cupboard was almost within reach of her hand. She pulled open the door, and jerked down the handle of the switch that controlled the burglar alarm. _A second later she was back in the service corridor with the door closed behind her. She reached for the street door. This was the door by which she and Alfred had en- tered the house, you remember. Bolt and spring lock, she had it all fixed in her mind. Between - the door and the iron gate she paused for a second, peering between the bars for the watchman. But I had done my part, and he was not there. She ventured out with a horrible sinking feeling. Sup- pose Mr. or Mrs. Sterry stuck a head out of the window. She would have to trust to her heels then. However, no alarm ‘was raised, She walked -sedately. to Madison Avenue. As she turned the corner she looked back. Still no alarm. The furious beating of her heart quieted down. CHAPTER XXIV. THE MUTINY. YOU can imagine the little comedy when oe came into the drugstore. There was I state of semi- collapse, with the druggist of- fering me something in a glass, and the gray coated watchman ooking on ‘solicitously. I drank what was offered me—I suppose I = a a 2 considerable chance, and | im- oe Was taking man, suddenly recollecting his. job, ex 7 , sitting on a chair in a | co | __comichoo ksi