Argosy All-Story Weekly, October 25, 1924 — page 117: what you’re looking at

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

FORTUNE FAVORS his knee. “I’ve got it, Fin! I know how we can queer that faker.” ‘“‘ H-how?”’ : “Get a fake notice printed and send it to the widow. is wanted back in St. Paul for—oh, for any- thing—embezzlement, say.” Finnerty stood gaping while the idea slowly penetrated his mind. “ Golly!” he exclaimed. “ But that’s dis- honest, isn’t it?” ‘‘ Naw—and who cares if it is? Ain’t McCandless dishonest? Didn’t he do you dirt?” “e Y-yes.” “ Well, then.” “Who'll print the fake notice for us?” Finnerty wanted to know. “ Any printer in Great Falls.” “ Who'll get it printed?” “You. Take a day off and go to the city and get it set up. I can’t afford to; have to hunt another job. But I'll write the copy. It ‘ll say that Bernard McCandless is wanted for embezzlement.” ‘““Won’t the widow find out that he isn’t?” “Sure. But not before two or three weeks. And by that time maybe she’ll have got out of the notion of marrying the dirty crook.” “Who will you say wants him?” ““ A detective agency—say the Neversleep Detective Agency, New York. It ’Il take her a long time to find out there isn’t any such concern.” Finnerty reached his decision. “ All right, Tommy. Gimme the copy and I'll get it printed in Great Falls to-morrow. What printer should I go to first?” “One that doesn’t look too prosperous. When you get the printed bills destroy them all but one. Put that one in a plain en- velope and have some public stenographer address it to the boss, just as the real circu- lars are addressed.” Finnerty took a day off and had the fake notice printed without any difficulty, after he explained that he was playing a practical joke. He had one addressed to Alice Ma- loney as per Tommy Dove’s instructions and he stamped it and dropped it in a mail box. It ‘ll state that McCandless * THE KNAVE. 107 “T did it, Tommy,” he whispered when he returned to the camp. “ It ’ll come with the other mail this very. evening.” “ Splendid!” » Tommy had been given a clerical job in the office, under McCandless, and he went to work at it now. Finnerty hung around the office door, ostensibly watching some men pitch horseshoes, but really keyed up like a radio set to see what would happen when the widow read the fake man-wanted circular. There was a rustle of paper as the boss went through her mail. Finnerty heard the ejaculation, “Good Heavens!”’ and knew that his big hour had come. A tense mo- ment passed in silence. Then footsteps sounded and the widow appeared in the doorway. She spied Fin- nerty and beckoned him inside. He fol- lowed her with a feeling of uneasiness. Her eyes looked cold and hard. Tommy was not in the place to come to his assistance. The widow went behind her counter, while Finnerty remained outside. She scrutinized him searchingly. “Fin,” she said, “ you are a fool. All the more a fool when you try to be clever.” The plotter blinked. Clearly something had gone wrong. “Huh? What’s the matter?” ““ Do you see that?” She placed on the counter before him the fake circular he had mailed in Great Falls. “Yes; it’s McCandless.” Finnerty tried to simulate surprise, but did not succeed very well. “It’s a low trick that you played on Bertram to try and break up our wedding,” the lady proclaimed. ‘“ That’s not a real reward circular. It’s a fake. You got it printed and mailed yourself—with the as- sistance of that wretched Tommy Dove, maybe.” Finnerty gulped so that his Adam’s apple worked up and down like a bobbin. He realized that his rédle in this little drama called for a denial of her allegation with gusto, but somehow he couldn’t manage it. The silence became painful. “Finnerty,” the pretty but capable widow went on, ‘“ I could have you arrested CORNICLOO© SS (C@