Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 5, 1921 — page 25: what you’re looking at

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

PAWNED. El ~ It had happened quickly. Not one, + probably, of those on the street had caught ' the details of the little’ scene. And now the ‘ tiny thief had wriggled through his legs, ‘and with the magnificent irresponsibility of _ childheod had darted away and was lost to “sight. It had happened quickly—but not so quickly as the gathering together of an _ angry, surging crowd around John Bruce. - Some one in the crowd shrieked out above the clamor of voices: “He kill-a Pietro! Kill-a da dude!” It was a fire-brand. John Bruce backed away a little—up against the door of Signor Palasco Ratti’s wine shop. A glance showed him that with the blow he had struck his light overcoat had become loosened, and that he was flaunting an immaculate and gleaming shirt-front in the faces of the crowd. And between their Pietro with a broken jaw and. an intruder far too well dressed to please -their fancy, the psychology of the crowd became the psychology of a mob. The fire-brand took. “Kill-a da dude!” It was echoed in chorus—and then a rush. It flung John Bruce heavily against the wine shop door, and the door crashed in- ’ ward—and for a moment he was down, and the crowd, like a snarling wolf pack, was upon him. And then the massive shoulders heaved, and he shook them off and was on his feet; and all that was pr,mal, elemental in the man was dominant, the mad glory- ing in strife upon him, and he struck right and left with blows before which, again and again, a man went down. But the rush still bore him backward, and the doorway was black and jammed with reinforcements constantly pouring In. Tables crashed to the floor, chairs were overturned. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a white-mustached Italian leap upon the counter and alternately wave his arms’ and wring his hands together frantically. “For the mercy of God!” the man screamed—and then his voice added to the din in a flood of impassioned Italian. It was Signor Palasco Ratti, probably. John Bruce was panting now, his breath coming in short hard gasps. It was not easy to keep them in front of him, to keep o11 his back free. blades now. Fle was borne back foot by foot, the space widening as he retreated from the door, giving room, for more to come upon him at the same time. A _ knife blade lunged at him. He evaded it—but another glittering in the ceiling light at the same in- stant, flashing a murderous arc in its down- ward plunge, caught hirf, and, before he could turn, sank home. A yell of triumph went up. He felt no pain. Only a sudden’ sickening of his brain, a sudden weakness that robbed his limbs of strength, and he reeled and stag- gered, fighting blindly now. And then his brain cleared. He flung a quick glance over his shoulder. Yes, there was one chance. Only one! And in an- other minute, with another knife thrust, it would be too jate. He whirled suddenly and raced down the length of the café. In the moment’s grace earned through sur- prise at his sudden action, he gained a door he had seen there, and threw himself upon it. It was not fastened, though there was a key in the lock. He whipped out the key, plunged through, locked the door on the outside with the fraction of a second to spare before they came battering upon it—- and stumbled and fell headlong out into the open. It was as though he were lashing his brain into action and virility. It kept wab- bling and fogging. -Didn’t the damned thing understand that his life was at stake! He lurched to his feet. He was in a lane. In front of him, like great looming shad- ows, shadows that wabbled too, he saw the shapes of two tenements, and like an inset ‘between them, a small house with a light gleaming in the lower window. That was where the vision lived. Only there was a fence between. Sanctuary! He lunged toward the fence. He had not meant to—to make a call to-night—she— she might have misunderstood. But in a second now they would come sweeping around into the lane after him. He clawed his way to the top of the fence, and because his strength was almost gone, fell from the top of the fence to the ground on the other side. : Comiclboo He caught the glint of knife S CO