Argosy All-Story Weekly, December 4, 1926 — page 166: what you’re looking at

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

476 away. We let him get a few feet past where we were hidden and then rushed him. He didn’t have a Peace: there were five of us. All he said when we grabbed his arms was: ‘‘ What the hell!” Each one of us had been assigned his particular part, and a few minutes later Willie was wound about with so many strands of clothesline that he looked like a big cocoon. His arms were tight to his sides and his legs fast together. We stuffed cotton into his mouth and tied a towel over to keep it in place. Then we picked him up on our shoulders and started on toward Edith’s. ‘Fred King, who had gone ahead to spy out the conditions, reported that the side porch was dark, and that he could see Edith reading in the little reception room inside the door. That was fine! We knew she would an- swer Willie’s ring herself. When we got Willie down to the edge of the trees, only a few feet from the steps, we fastened on his chest a placard which read: HERE HE IS! Then we toted him very quietly up on the porch and stood him up against the door. Everybody sneaked back into the shrubbery except Mart King, who was to ring the bell and run. We watched breathlessly as Mart pressed the button and bounded off the steps. We knew Edith would not hurry. They never do—just to make a man think they are not as anxious as he is, I suppose. 3 Well, Mart had plenty of time to join us before the door swung open. It was hard to keep from letting out a yell when that happened. Willie fell in- ward like a plank,- and—what we had not counted on—plumped into Edith. She squealed, and they went down in a heap. We knew she couldn’t be hurt, so nudged each other and smothered our laughter out there in the dark, and waited to see what would happen. Edith picked herself up, staring at Wil- lie. Then she ran to the porch and peered about with her hand over her eyes. She ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. went in again; we saw her read the mes- sage. Then she dragged Willie in by the heels and shut the door. ‘We got away as fast as possible and roared over the incident. Even if you were not there, you can appreciate how funny it was. VI. AFTER that, of course, any regular chap would have taken a sneak out of town. We certainly expected that Willie would. Nat- urally, we could not appear too interested in him, so we did not go en masse to see if he showed up next day. We just man- aged to drop down to the various landings, one at a time, you see; and I’ll be dog- goned if he wasn’t on- the job, just as bold and fresh as ever! We decided to mix up with the girls to see if they had heard anything about last night’s business, but they were all over at Edith’s and up in her room, so we went for a swim and separated about lunch time. Kathleen was late, and the minute she came in I could see that she was bubbling over with excitement. Now, I thought, we shall hear all about it. I didn’t say any- thing, though. “ What do you think?” Kathleen began, addressing the table. “Tl bite,” I said in a slightly bored tone. “ Edith,” she said impressively, “ is going to marry Mr. Spicer!” At that moment I choked on a fish bone —we had fish for lunch—and when I could talk I asked: “Ts she crazy?” “Some of us accused her of being so,” Kathleen said soberly. ‘“‘ But she insists that she is perfectly sane. She’s going to tell her people to-night. Anyhow she’s madly in love with him, and says she is certain that he will make his way. Maybe she is right.” . And on her face was that foolish look girls get when anybody they know is going to get married. f controlled my feelings and remarked: “{ fancy Edith’s folks will spike that ar- rangement in a hurry.” ‘ (C@) (E@ NOOLKS