Argosy All-Story Weekly, March 15, 1924 — page 99: what you’re looking at

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

428 his reaction was that of approaching a canon. Before him were the financial in- Stitutions of the city, the great office build- ings, wherein were laid the plans and the deals by which fortunes were made. ' His ‘pulses beat rapidly. Some day his name would be known up and down that narrow Street. . “Good morning,” said a pleasant: VOICe} and Forsythe turned. A stranger smiling at him fell into step ‘without invitation, his movement being as - natural and graceful as though one acquain- tance was meeting another. “ Just got in from down in Illinois,” he ' continued. ‘“ Thought I’d walk around and size things up a little before hunting a ho- tel. My first trip here. You're a stranger also?” | Forsythe nodded cautiously. “ Thought I saw you get off. this. Makes me feel lonesome. ‘why I started to talk to you. you say to dropping in somewhere and hav- ing a little drink? Must be a saloon open around here even if it is Sunday.” | “ Tnever drink.” ‘T never do, either—in my home: town— That’s only a little snifter now and then when the . W. C. T. U. can’t keep cases on me. Boys I’m told,you can. will be boys, you know. do things in Chicago you can’t do at home because the neighbors would talk.” | Forsythe didn’t reply. He was study- ing the man beside him. Something gave a false note to the geniality, and he was en his guard. He had heard much of games worked on strangers.. He felt sure he did not look like a rube, and if the stranger had taken him-for one he was- mistaken. Still his perspicacity in noting that Forsythe was a newcomer was excel- . lent. They had gone only a little more than a block, Forsythe still silent, when the stran- - ger darted to the curb and picked up a fat purse. Looking around carefully and -see- ing that he was unobserved, he beckoned to _Forsythe and stepped into a hallway. Open- ing his find a trifle, he exposed a tantalizing. exhibit of preenbacks, and without an invi- — tation Forsythe followed him into a con- venient alley. / = Some town What do- * by traveling men in Unionville. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. ‘“* Finders is keepers,’”’. said the stran- ger. “ But Dil let you in on this if you keep your mouth shut. We can’t divvy here. We'll just stroll along until we come to some nice, quiet place, and then we'll count it and split it two ways.” The wallet went into his pocket and to- gether they walked along the street, and as they did so John Forsythe. darted looks of contempt at the man beside him. ‘They had gone only a short distance when they encountered a policeman. The stranger endeavored to ooze into a small billiard hall, ‘but Forsythe clutched him. “ Come on in and Ill sptit on the square with you,” he whispered; but F orsythe did - not release his hold. _ The stranger gave a violent but ineffec- tual jerk, and the patrolman, noting the . Struggle, quickened his pace “ Officer,” said Forsythe, ‘this bum tried to work the old pocketbook game on me.” . ‘“T know him,” was the response. ‘“ He’s the Thirty Dollar Kid. He hangs around railroad stations and cons strangers. Come on along, Thirty Dollar; stone room for you.” The confidence man started to argue, but steel nippers on his wrist silenced him, and he was led away, Forsythe keeping in the background. If this was a pitfall in the way . of newcomers, these braggart city swindlers were only squirrels, he thought. That game was so old it was known in Unionville. All the same, he would not be detained as. a witness, as that would not be a good intro- duction to Chicago. -Nor was he. Near the patrol box the. Thirty Dollar Kid broke free and melted in _the crowd. The officer pursued him until he was well out of the press, then gave up. Finding a little privacy behind a- shoulder of a building, he stowed something green in his helmet; and John Forsythe’ conceived a new respect for the police force. Forsythe -further congratulated himself on having listened to descriptions of swindlers he might have been tempted to disaster, as the contents of that pocketbook were large | bills. ’ is There was no- difficulty about the room. COmiclboo (Cc Otherwise: we've got a nice” q i ~ CO