Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 146 No. 4 — page 87: what you’re looking at

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

By RICHARD HOWELLS WATKINS “Oh! The mech, he blamed the pilot And the pilot blamed the ship, But the reason for that crack-up Wasn't water on the hip!”— ARBLED Royce Grainger, beating Ny time with much energy and some rhythm on the agitated shoulder of Bill McClellan. “Chorus, Bill! Nip! Stunt! Slip! Crash! A-a-a-ambulance!” “Shut up!” commanded Bill emphatical- ly. “ Your sneaking insinuation is as un- just as it is unmusical.” Flip Devans, Royce’s mechanic, had been tinkering with the motor of a stunted scout plane on the line a hundred feet from the hangar when the first note of the song assailed his ears. He pushed an anxious and breathless countenance into the build- ing where the two friends were standing just in time to encounter the red eyes of Bill “Somebody crash?” Royce asked him te bas | guess not,” Flip retorted after look- ~~ Se ‘ ~ 557 ing over his superior with great care. He removed himself with some deliberation from the fiery gaze of Bill. “My motor has made me deaf often enough, but this is the first time it has made me hear strange things,” Royce said, pulling off his helmet and presenting an attentive ear to the younger man. “ If you aren’t— er—hipped, rave through it again, will you?” ‘“Tt’s infernally serious,” Bill declared, transferring his glare from the place where Flip had been to a bit of rubber hose on the oily floor. He kicked it across the shed and watched it bounce to rest before pro- ceeding. ‘‘ What a woman wants, she geis, Well, I’m it. This girl is a nice little girl— fine family, lots of money and so forth— but she has taken a few things I said too seriously. I’ll be engaged in a week. I’m afraid it will be a deuced short engagement, too. Do you think I’d ask your help if I wasn’t desperate?” Royce blinked. Eomi ebooks Ecom