Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 123, No. 4 — page 23: what you’re looking at

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

BING, BANG, BOOM! “Maybe he meant something,” he de- cided finally; ‘“ but it would take a lunatic to figure it out.” As he returned to the Jobby from the dining-room, a red-headed, befreckled young man jumped from the chair i in which he was sitting, and confronted Bert. “Good morning,” he said briskly. “ Aren’t you Mr. Boom?” And without waiting for a reply: ‘‘ Name’s Gadsby. Represent the Protective Insurance Com- pany. Hear you just bought the Ma- Jestic.”’ Bert nodded. “VY” see, the former owner, Mr. Tur- ner, always carried full insurance on the building,” the young man went on, “ but he recently canceled it. Thought maybe you’d like to protect yourself, and—” . “ What kind of insurance is it?” Bert asked. ‘Fire, theft, and tornado,” the other replied, drawing a sheaf of papers from his pocket. “Let me explain our propo- sition to you.” Fifteen minutes later, when the: agent took his leave, Bert had insured his prop- erty for fifteen thousand dollars. He put the papers away in his trunk, and thought no more about.the matter until, later, he met Fred Patterson in front of Hutchin’s barber-shop, which was being utilized as a voting-place. He informed the young ed- itor of the transaction, and Fred nodded his approval. “ Good idea to have it covered,” he said. Did you give your business to old man Sloane?” “No,” Bert replied; “it was a young fellow named Gadsby.” / “Red Gadsby? I’m sorry you gave it to him,” said Fred. ‘“ He’s Ellis Turner’s nephew.” “Is he?” said Bert in surprise. “He didn’t tet on. Oh, well, it doesn’t amount to enough to matter much. How do you think the election will turn out?” Fred shrugged. “Spigot and Warren will be reelected, I suppose. But it won’t be.as much of a sure thing for Turner as it has always been. That speech of yours set some people thinkin’, and they aren’t going to follow Turner so blindly after 2A 529 this. One old fellow I was talking to last night, who has always voted for Tumer’s men, said he was going to vote for Hill and Dyer—our men—this time. If we can only get enough Selma voters to do that, it will put an end to Turner’s power in Grant County.” “Why? Is Selma such an important factor in the county?” ° “It’s the deciding factor,”’ Fred replied. “You see, there are about ninety-five hundred residents in Grant County, and twenty-one hundred of them live here, which is the county seat. That means that there are about eight hundred votes cast in Salem, and about fifteen hundred in the rest of the county. The poll isn’t as heavy in the outlying districts as it is here, com- paring voters to residents, because many of the farmers don’t take the trouble to drive to the nearest town to register and ,then again to vote, especially at a county election like this. “Well, usually about nine hundred of ‘those fifteen hundred go against Turner’s picked men; but about six-fifty of Selma’s eight hundred go for them; so that Turner gets by with a few hundred majority.” “It’s usually pretty close, then,” Bert. ‘‘ When it’s as sure a thing as those fig- ures have shown themselves 4o be in the past, you can’t call it close. What I’ve been tryin’ to do this campaign, through The Punch, is to get more of the county farmers to vote this time. We'll see what good it did, to-night.” With the creeping of the evening shad- ows upon Salem, an eager crowd of men and women began to gather before Hutch- in’s barber-shop to await the election re- turns. It was a gala night, and, owing to the infrequency of such nights, it was hailed with a rare enthusiasm. At eight o’clock, when the returns from said outlying districts began to arrive by mes- - sengers, the narrow street was thronged with humanity. A thousand voices raised in lJaughter, shouts, greeting, and argu- ment; the fretful whimpering of sleepy children; the scraping and trampling of shifting feet, sending geysers of eye- scratching dust into the air; the barking Original fro AGO! STATE UNI ra (C =) NOOK CO