Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 28, 1928 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

hy hr ’ (ue 7 : (tat? : /\ Sa Nay 442 was inscribed in the back of that watch he wore with the further information that it had been given to him as a me- mento of ten years of valuable service to Conover & Co. “Like I tell you, Korbeck,” said Funk in a whining voice to his table companion, “I been working like a siave for ten years and he gives me a watch. Why not an interest im the business? But for me—phooey! What's the use?” He broke off as if in disgust at the futility of trying to express his dis- appointment in words, “You have been a sucker long enough.” The other man spoke with decision. He was a tall man whose white hair suggested more years than he had lived, but whose narrow slit of twisted mouth in a puffy face only half told the story of his meanness of soul. “Yes, sir, a sucker long enough,” repeated Korbeck in a tone an uncle might take with a beloved, foolish nephew. “ With your intelligence you should be a rich man.”’ “Don’t I know it?’ complained Funk. ‘‘ And what have I got? A wrist watch! Who can blame me if 1 sweetened my pay from time to time by sewing a piece of sable inside my coat before leaving that shop after a hard day’s work?” “T don’t blame you for that,” said Korbeck, putting emphasis on the last word. “I blame you for not getting a bigger share of profits you helped to earn. “T like my friends to have money so’s we can all have a good time. That’s why I’ve taken some of those skins off your hands. “But I want you to have a lot of money. I’ll be going down to Florida before long. I'd like nothing better than to have a congenial companion like yourself and I have to be deprived of your companionship because you've been working like a slave for years and vetting nowhere. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. “Tl tell you what I’m going to do: I’m going to carry you in the market for a couple of hundred shares of steel.”’ sé But—” “Not a word, now! I'll use my money and charge you six per cent in- terest for it when I turn over your profts. It’s a rismg market. Money’s easy to make when you already have money.” “Say, thatll be swell,” approved Funk. Now Furfk was stupid, but not as stupid as his easy acceptance of Kor- beck’s words implied. He knew without allowing the thought to come to the surface of his mind that Korbeck was offering him some easy money in return for some- thing Funk was in a position to give: And Korbeck, fox that he was, knew that Funk was waiting to learn the price of the easy money. “ Another cup coffee, waiter,’ com- manded Korbeck, chiefly because he wished to send that functionary out of | hearing. “In four-five weeks, Funk,” he went on temptingly, “ you'll know what it is to have some real money, to have waiters at the Ritz jump when you snap your fingers, to have a big auto- mobile and maybe a chauffeur and,” he lowered his voice and whispered a word behind his hand. “Aw, gowan,” chided Funk in a fog of embarrassment that he found enjoyable. “ Say, by the way,” remarked Kor- beck, “I got'to make some changes in the burglar alarm system up to my warehouse. These furriers got pretty good systems, | understand. *“* Maybe you could tell me something about the arrangements at Conover’s; any little extra precautions that are taken there, for instance?” Korbeck began to stir his second cup of coffee as carefully as if it was nitro- glycerine and himself a chemist. Funk gianced at that watch on his bd COPMGEOOOKS (C@