Argosy All-Story Weekly, June 13, 1925 — page 46: what you’re looking at

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

wero n-ALLSTORY WEEKLY, at the inanimate menace. He would not have touched it for a fortune. Well he knew that if he fussed with the knobs and switches the device would begin to function and he didn’t want to hear what he felt certain it would ask him. No, this was one piece of ordnance in the conspiracy of that young pup which was not going to be effective. If a syllable came out of ampli- fier, he made up his mind, he would rip the whole contraption out by the roots. In the morning, he would have it removed anyway, As he paused in his pacing, eying the cabinet a reaction set in. Mr. Bennett caught himself wondering whether his san- ity had been attacked by the events of the last day. Thelast day? The thought itself was ominous. He took another drait of liquor and slowly, reluctantly, undressed for bed. TI, He rose early, stood under a cold shower for several minutes, dressed and faced breakfast, quite refreshed. He was nearly ready to smile at his fears of the night. Soft, sun-drenched winds, swept against the window sashes. Mr, Bennett tossed the newspapers from the table and strode to the window to look out at the gloriously developing day, He stiffened suddenly as he gazed out. Directly across the street on the blank wall of an old building two painters were at work on scaffolds, lettering a huge sign, with big brushes. In its incomplete state, the legend read: What’s The An if You Were A Fath And She THE ANSWER IS YE Mr. Bennett turned away. So—the campaien had been carried to his very home. He could not run away, yet assuredly he could not remain with that facing him. Possibly when it was finished, his own name or that of Florence would be included in the insulting interrogations. Mr. Ben- nett pressed his palms against his forehead, and the thought came to him that this thing would end in tragedy. He did not return to the breakfast table, but dressed quickly for the street and slipped out of the house without speaking to the servants. He could not think co- herently there. He walked down town, turned Into Broadway, and observed a pro- cession of sandwich men, their boards flap- ping in the wind from their shoulders. Mr. Bennett hailed a cab and directed the driver to his office. He drew down the curtains immediately. He wanted to think and he did not want to view the signs the sand- wich men carried nor did he care to look at any other form 6f outdoor advertising. Neither did he care to see friends or ac- quaintances—Mr. Andrew Bennett sud- denly realized that he was talking to him- self and checked his mutterings. He stepped from the cab and entered his offices with an aspect of briskness. There was not an employee in sight in the outer office. He turned his head to assure himself that his vision was unimpaired and heard a chorus of exclamations from the confer- ence chamber adjoining his private office. Opening the door of the larger room, his gaze fell on the entire office force elbowing for preferred positions at the windows. As Mr. Bennett entered, a burst of laughter arose. He coughed loudly and spoke: “Pardon this intrusion—but is this a business office?” They fell back, surprised, then scattered silently but grinning. Mr. Bennett un- thinkingly stalked to the window. Doubt- less a steeple jack was gilding the ball on the flagstaff of a neighboring building—but be saw no steeple jack. He glanced casual- ly at the sky. So high that it appeared a dragon-fly _ against the blue, an airplane rode, streaming thick smoke from its stern. It soared and glided and dived and rose again bewilder- ingly. For half a minute, Mr. Bennett stood marveling at the recklessness of the pilot. Then the jumbled mass of smoke took form and he realized that the plane was not afire, for the trailing blur assumed curves of srace to spell out: *“ What’s the answer?” The plane dived like a kingfisher, righted itself hundreds of feet below, and began the reply to its own question: EO NOOO SS Co