Argosy All-Story Weekly, November 12, 1927 — page 115: what you’re looking at

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

THE RETURN OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. wild as, up the steps, came Washington and Ortola. Now, Polly, her tattered condition mag- nified by the lens, determinedly advancing, seizing Washington’s hands, kissing him. The spectators in the library broke into a louder babbling. Silence again, except for the whirring of the machine. Then: “ Polly, don’t you think—”’ Voices rose and drowned the rest of it. The voice had been George Washington’s. Polly! Larry, his glow somewhat diminished, slipped out of the house and made his way toward the press tents. In one respect, George Washington was as modern as a university undergraduate. It struck Larry that the colonel and Polly Morgan must have covered an amazing amount of ground on that horseback ride. Reporters quickly surrounded him. Brown, at one elbow, growled: “You haven’t been letting much grass grow under your feet, have you, Gallo- way?” Larry said: “I don’t get you.” “You've got things pretty well sewed up, haven’t you?” Larry, beginning to protest innocence, was interrupted by a snarling snort of “Oh, hell; every damned question we’ve asked him since he came down from your room he’s referred to you. ‘ Ask Mr. Galloway!’ Great guns, how sick I’m getting of asking Mr. Galloway. Well, what’s the lowdown —or is it exclusive to The It?” ‘“ Colonel Washington,” Larry answered, “has asked me to be his adviser. Here- after, most statements from him will come through me. You might as well get used tots’ “ Are you going with him on his tour?” <4 I am.’’ : “ What did you talk about up there?” “A great many things. You fellows may as well know he is sore at the way you laugh at his mistakes and the way you try to bully him into making injurious state- ments.” “ All we get from now on, I suppose, is pap.” | “Vou 'll get straight truth, but you won’t 589 be given the chance to quote him injurious- ly. Paste that in your hats.” “All right,” growled Riley of the News. . “ We're going to be so good we’ll each earn a little gold cross. Will you spill some- thing? What happened up in that room?” Larry smiled grimly. “The colonel came to me for straight facts about America. He was tremendously interested.” ‘What did he say about prohibition?” ‘“‘He asked dozens of questions about it, but he isn’t going to say a word until he’s looked things over. That’s flat. He asked dozens more questions about city, State, and Federal government. He is, of course, very much interested in politics.” ‘“* He wasn’t when he talked to us!” “Well, he was when he talked to me. He is going to make a thorough study of all branches of government from one end of the country to the other. American pro- gress and American politics are the two subjects which interest him most.” “When does he leave?” “To-morrow morning, immediately after breakfast.” “* The hell he does! sop” “Why didn’t you ask me? ‘I’m being interviewed,” Larry answered and laughed. He heard a half dozen men curse him. “Where does he go?” “New York.” “Wow! Not Washington?” “He wanted to see New York first; Washington next. He’ll go by plane. I’m going to order it now.” “Who'll. make up the party?” “Miss Morgan, Mrs. Islington—” “Say! Where does that dame get off to go horning in as if—”’ “ Shut up!” snapped a dozen voices. “and Paul Muller.” “And yourself.” “ That’s all.” Why didn’t you sav “It’s one too many, if you ask me!” said’ a young news-getter. “Why the mob?” asked Brown. “The colonel’s wishes. In his own words: ‘ I am alone in this new world among strangers. My only friends are the ones I have made since last night. I want them to go wherever I go!’” (€(0) _OOK AUG (E@)