Argosy All-Story Weekly, June 27, 1925 — page 109: what you’re looking at

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

THROW UP YOUR HANDS. At the door of his laundry Wun Lung Low was halted by the frantic proprietor of the Busy Bee Lunchroom. “ How much d’ya want fer just half o’ ~ that water, Wun Lung?” the cook-pro- prietor demanded. “Fotty dolla’.” “ Sold!” It was, it appeared, destined to be a day of inflated values in Yumpa. No matter for what purpose it was intended, the three profiteers contrived to secure every drop of water that passed from the hydrant. Presently water was being bought and sold on margin. After the first craving had been satisfied, the price soared again. Water took on new values. To own water be- came a mark of distinction. One bucket of water, wanted by a cook, was sold and resold five times. Its initial price was ten dollars; and it was sold to its ultimate pur- chaser for eighty-seven dollars and a half. Yumpa was water mad! In less than five hours Friday Pepper sold five thousand dol- lars’ worth of water. The prices charged by the three restau- rants were reminiscent of gold rush days in interior Alaska. A cup of tea brought two dollars; a cup of coffee three dollars; a plate of soup seven dollars and a half. And at four o’clock in the afternoon, by an ironical thrust of fate, the bottom was washed out of the water market. Rain descended in torrents. A veritable Cloudburst threatened to inundate the cup in which Yumpa lay! CHAPTER XXXV. RETRIBUTION! NHEEDED by the water speculators, the storm of the preceding night had wheeled away to the west and re- turned. The sky became overcast so sud- denly that no one noticed. Water descend- ed in sheets. It drummed on the roofs; it toared through the eavespipes and gut- lets; it carved miniature cafions in the dust Which had suddenly turned to clay. At the rate at which water had been selling in umpa in the last five hours, a million dol- lars’ worth fell in the first five minutes, 905 ‘Spavin Yampdon, who had been patient- ly awaiting his tum at the bathtub, re- belled and demanded that his one hundred dollars be returned. His demand resulted in a fight with Black Dan MacGillicudy, in which the tubful of water was overturned. But this incident was forgotten in the drama of a vastly more vital occurrence. Friday Pepper was at the telephone with the receiver at his ear—the loud speaker and amplifier had been disconnected—and was asking for orders when the storm broke., “ The gang yere is beginnin’ to talk nasty and givin' me one dutty look after another,” he announced. “ And it’s rainin’ cats and dawgs, Larry. Hadn't I better beat it back while the beatin’ is good?” “You shore you've sold all the you can?” Pas “ Holy mackerel, Larry, water din’t nothin’ but a glut on th’ market down yere now. It’s rainin’ water, I tell ya!” ' A crash of thunder blotted out Red Wil pin’s reply. Judge Oglethorpe, Marshal Sniffin, Julius Yost and his mother were standing behind Friday, and they clearly heard his question. They exchanged glances; but Marshal Sniffin shook his head. “Nope,” he said decisively. ‘‘ That fel- low up there still has us trapped. And as Jong as he holds that pass, we can’t do any- ‘thing to this hombre. We'll have to bide our time.” A cold, malignant light shone in his eyes. “And our time will come, never fear!” “We must get that paper we signed!” Mrs. Yost whispered. “We will!” Judge Oglethorpe breathed. They stopped talking and listened. Fri- day was shouting into the receiver again. “Say that agin, Larry! Ya want me t' start right now?” The words were not out of his mouth be- fore a monstrous crash shook Yumpsa to its very foundations. Forks of green light- ning sprayed out from the telephone in Fri- day Pepper’s hand. Without 8 murmur he collapsed to the floor, senseless! “Tt must have struck the wire!” Judge Oglethorpe gasped. “And if it struck the wire, the man at the other end—” He left the sentence unfinished, oe ys SS Co