The Argosy for May — page 27: what you’re looking at

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

214 Swiftly he flew to the door and tried the knob, hoping that Corning might possibly have failed to turn the key on the oufSide. But the hope was vain. The door held, and there was no time to pick the lock; for the entire house was in a turmoil now, the screams of women and children resounding from every floor. It was plain, therefore, that he must go as he had come; and that he had bet- ter lose no time about it, either. With a quick spring, he drew himself up to the transom opening, climbed through, and was just about to drop into the corridor when there came a howl of triumph from up the hallway, and two lusty por- ters, charging forward, bore him to the ground underneath their combined weight. Harry was not greatly injured by the fall, for he was lithe and wiry, and able to stand a good deal of rough handling ; but it seemed to him as though he should be crushed into a pancake before he could persuade the two men to remove themselves from off his chest. He was sadly out of wind when he was at length dragged to his feet; but he made a fair stagger at a smile of quizzical amusement. : “T guess I have been the cause of considerable trouble here,’ he said, ‘and I can hardly blame you fellows for taking me for a burglar; but you understand, of course, that I am a friend of Mr. Corning’s, and that when he locked me in his room for a lark, the only way I could get out was through the transom. It’s all a joke, boys; just a big joke.” 3 They were plainly skeptical. “Aw, come off!” growled one of them. ‘‘ You'll have to dig up a better one than that. Hold him there, Bill, until I get the pass-key, and see whether there mayn’t be another of ’em still in- side the room.” Now, what Harry. was more anxious to avoid than anything else was to have the condition of the-desk discovered, and he therefore insisted so vehemently that the affair was all a joke, and that he could prove a clean bill of health, if they would send for Mr. Keer, the proprietor of the hotel, who knew him, that the men, aided thereto by sugges- =, _ prietor. THE ARGOSY. tions from the crowd of guests and wait- ers who had gathered by this time, finally yielded so far, and a messenger was ac- cordingly despatched for Mr. Keer, who was at-the home of a friend, a block or two away. Presently, word came back that the proprietor was engaged in a hand of “bridge”? at the moment, but would be over as soon as the rubber was played out. While they were all waiting, however, the regular policeman on the _ block, having heard of the disturbance, came nosing about, and stood regarding Rock with a severe and cynical disfavor. Suddenly a gleam of quick suspicion showed in his eye, and, with a movement as: quick as a cat’s, he twitched out of the prisoner’s pocket that significant strand of twisted wire. “A joke, is ut?” he observed with lofty disdain. ‘‘ Begorra, there’s a la-ad down in Part Fo-our iv th’ Criminal Co-oorts that I’m thinkin’ c’d take th’ measure iv this joker in iligant style. ‘Tin years f’r yours,’ is his fav’rite bit iv pleasanthry.”’ This circumstance naturally turned the sentiment of the bystanders against the prisoner, but he still asserted so vigorously his claim that it was a joke, and showed such evident willingness to face Mr. Keer, that final decision was withheld in most minds until the pro- prietor should appear and pass his ver- dict. And then there came a quick murmur along the corridor, at which Harry hope- fully raised his glance, expecting to be- hold the landlord’s familiar visage ; but, instead, around the corner came— Corning! . If the earth had opened beneath him in a cataclysmal gulf, Rock could not have been more dismayed. For he real- ized, as did every one else in the com- pany, that there was no. longer any reason to wait for the word of the pro- The tenant of the apartment was here. And Corning, too, went aghast, it was plain, when he first recognized the iden- tity of the prisoner. His face grew white, and he had to take a quick step to preserve his balance; for his guilty heart failed him as he saw at once that Com Ghooksnecom ®