The Argosy for May — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

THE arranged Himself as easily as possible to await the coming of the enemy, But a long time passed before his irk- some vigil came to an end. Surely, that ‘‘jollification dinner ” must consist of many courses; or was ft perhaps that the tricksters were so ex- ultant over their coup they had decided to make a night of it? Then, again, anxious doubts and ap- prehensions would arise as to the possi- bility of their never returning. ‘True, the apartment showed no evidences of any hurried flight on the part of its ‘owner; yet that might simply mean that he had never come back there from the race-track; but, tipped off that the pur- suit was on, had abandoned all his be- longings to their fate and vamoosed. Mingled with these queries, too, were anxious speculations as to what the out- come of the forthcoming encounter with the sharpers—provided they did put in an appearance—would be? Would he be able to recover the Bonds? Would he get back any of the money advanced upon the draft, and, if so, how much? Again, what action would the bank. take upon his case should he fail to ob- tain any of the money? What would Daniel G. Ramsey think of him when all the facts came to light? And—most harassing question of all—what would Anita think? Oh, Harry had plenty to occupy his mind, even though his period of sus- pense was long protracted. But at last there came the sound of footsteps from the corridor outside, the click of a key in the lock, and Corning entered, accompanied, to Harry’s intense satisfaction, by. Spear. *verything was turning out exactly as he had predicted to George, he told himself, not without a certain pride in his powers of deduction. He was also pleased to discover that by lying close to the floor he could get with one eye a full view of the room from under the edge of the couch, thus enabling him to see as well as to hear, So, with his one eye and both ears alert, and the revolver in his hand ready for action, he lay there quiet as a mouse and waited for what might happen. From the very manner of the rascals TIME FOR ACTION. 211 in entering the room, though, as well as from their subsequent words and actions, he perceived that there was no ground for his fear lest they should have been already alarmed. -The idea of any im- mediate reprisals on the part of their plundered victims was evidently the last thought that came into their heads. Indeed, both of them were in jubilant mood, laughing and jesting as might fel- lows who had dined well and were with- out a care in the world. Corning hummed a gay little air as he moved about, turning on the lights and setting the room in order; while his companion, standing in front of the mantelpiece, thrust his hands down deep into his pockets and jingled his keys in thoroughly complacent fashion. Of a sudden, though, he paused in his careless tintinnabulation and_ glanced quickly toward the other. “Tsay, Arthur,” he questioned, ‘““you’re sure there couldn’t possibly be any mistake about the value of those bonds, eh? I’m not very familiar with junk of that sort, you know.” “Oh, no! As I told you, they’re as good as gold. However, let me see them again and make sure.” Out of Spear’s side coat-pocket came a bulky envelope, which he tossed over upon the table; and for a moment the hand of the unseen watcher tightened upon his revolver, and he was almost ready to burst from his concealment then and there. But he restrained himself with an effort and waited for further developments. ““ Mistake? ”’ smiled Corning, skim- ming with practised eye over the en- closed securities. “If I had a barrel or two of tidy little documents like these, I could make the Thirty-Fourth National look about the size of a tin savings-bank. Oh, no, Edward, never underestimate those beauties. They’re worth every -cent-they call for, and then some.” Spear’s heartfelt sigh of relief was almost laughable. “Well, I’m mighty glad to hear it,” he declared emphatically. “ Things have been going so rotten bad with me and you lately in everything we’ve under- took, that I began to get afraid maybe those bonds were on the ‘ bumski,’ too. But, since you say they’re all right, 0)(0)(6) ANIC SS (CO)