Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 123, No. 4 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

BING, BANG, BOOM! you, Turner? But I’m mighty glad I got | here in time to join your nice little party and to tell all these folks just exactly what you think of those worthy virtues—hone&ty and sincerity!” There was something promisingly por- tentous in the utterance, and the crowd caught the implication, receiving it with a buzz of excited whisperings. “ Hurrah!” some one: shouted. we'll hear somethmg worth while.” , “Show ’im up, stranger,” cried another. We'll be glad to hear it.” “ You bet we will,” added the first voice. ‘’ Come down and tell us all about it.” Bert knew that these exclamations were made by opponents to Turner; and the knowledge that he had friends among the * Now ' murmuring throng gave him added confi- dence. With a “Look out below!” he swung himself from the roof, remained pen-, dent a‘ moment as he hung from the gutter, and ther dropped lightly down into the | Clearing the crowd had made for him. Turner was a man of too wide and varied experience to be robbed for long of his poise of bearing, his power of smooth speech, or of his uncanny ability to adjust himself to a situation. His bewilderment, occa: sioned by Bert’s unexpected appearance, was momentary; and by the time Bert had wormed his way through the crowd to the running-board of his machite, he was the suave, smiling, Confrdent manewho had for so long led Selma by its ears. “This young man,” he shouted, stilling the assembly with an outturned palm, “ this young man wishes to say a few words to you. I am sorry,” he continued in a softer voice, “that I cannot properly introduce him to you, for my acquaintance with him has been very brief. I—”’ ~“Let’s hear the stranger!” “Let the young feller do his own inter- “doocin’!” Turner, still smiling, stepped back, and Bert, ignoring the tonneau door, vaulted lightly over it into the machine, turning a serious face toward the expectant audi- ence. “ Ladies and gentlemen,” he began stow- ly, “ Pm not much of an orator, as you'll soon see, and I can’t dress up my state 519 ments in the fancy frills of rhetoric pos- sible te Mr. Turner. What I’ve got to say is going to be snappy and to the point. I arrived at this charming village only a few hours ago, and I suppose it’s a bit un- usual for a man to jump into politics so soon after his arrival. (Laughter.) But while I was standing at the window of my room up there, I heard Mr. Turner make a few statements that I happen to know to be a ‘bit off color, and I feel it to be my duty as @ prospective citizen of this community to put you straight about several things.” | He paused and the crowd swayed for- ward, as crowds will be drawn by the mag- net of a promised disclosure. Bert cleared his throat, and continued: “e Turner just told you that he had never betrayed the confidence of any man. He has tokd you that honesty and sincerity were his strong points. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I’m not going to come right out and say that he didn’t tell. you the truth when he said that. I’m just going to tell you something, and then I’m going to leave it to you whether he was telling the truth or not. “Three days ago, Turner soki me two hundred shares of stock in the Majestic Hotel. Do I have to say any more than that? I didn’t know until I arrived here this morning that the place had been closed for seven years, and that my fifteen thou- sand dollars’ worth of stock n’t worth the paper it is printed on. He showed me a picture of the hotel that must have been taken when it was flourishing years ago, and he told me that if it were managed properly, it could prove to be a gold mime. Is that betraying the confidence of any man, ladies and gentlemen? Is that an example of the supreme virtues—honesty and sincerity? “I’m not a sorehead; I can take a lick- ing and smile about it; others about to walk into a similar trap, I’m Good Samaritan enough to try to save them. I don’t know anything about this Mr. Warren and Mr. Spigot. They may both be the best, most honest, and most faithful men that ever trod the fertile soil of Arkansas. But the very fact that a man like Ellis Turner wants them in office Original froma — — ee CG O =) lODOOK but when I see | CO