Argosy, Vol. 118, No. 4 — page 105: what you’re looking at

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

THE BIG BOSS IN BRONZE. He did not pay much attention to any- thing outside his own ponderings for some time; then he found himself wondering whether certain partly audible sounds were snores or the voices of men in subdued conversation. He could not distinguish any words. He listened for a long time. There was a hiss, like a breathing between teeth. There was a deep, low growl. A man asleep might make a noise like that. But to Douglass the combination of sounds sug- gested those voices he had heard in the night under the Norway pines. However, he arrived at no definite con- clusion, and gave over thinking on the ‘matter, sourly informing himself that he probably had stutterers and growlers on the brain. In the morning there was more or less gabble of voices in the cells adjoining his and in the cells of the tier below. He was more certain of his ears; prisoners were talking less guardedly than in the night when conversation between cells was in- terdicted. He believed that he did hear the voices of those men who had plotted against the treasure of Swinton Tingley. Whoever they might be they were lodged in the cells below him. Later in the forenoon there was a bit of a stir in the lower corridor. He could not see what was going on because of the rail and the platform in front of the cell. Doors were unlocked; he heard clicks and knew that handcuffs were being affixed because a voice had directed authoritative- ly: “ Stick out your paws!” Then a deep voice said: trusty!” | . ‘S-s-s-s-so long!” constituted another farewell. The response that he heard was evident- ly delivered by the trusty. The speaker called them “ Boys!” and expressed the friendly hope that they wouldn’t get too raw a deal down “ at the big keg!”’ After a time Douglass ventured to accost a trusty who was detailed to the upper tier. “Taking somebody away?” “Only a pair of tough birds who got theirs in court here yesterday. A State prison whack for ’em.” “‘ Good-by, 575 “What’s their names?” Douglass put his face close to the bars and queried anx- lously. ‘““T don’t know,” returned the trusty, with bland indifference. “What did they do?” “T never asked. ‘I’ve got too many troubles of my own,’’ declared the prisoner, dipping his mop. But he had detected something more than ordinary curiosity in Douglass’s man- ner. He inspected the face at the barred door. ‘Oh, youre the Canton big-job chap! I don’t bother with the thirty-day drunks who ask questions, but I reckon I’ll have to oblige a big jobber.” Though Douglass was not flattered by that sort of consideration, he was glad that it promised him some crumbs of informa- tion. The man leaned over the rail and at- tracted the attention of the trusty who was © mopping below. ‘‘ Who were the guys just railroaded?” | “Blew a safe in Bridgton. Got caught at the job. Quick work in court yester- day. Down they go!” ‘‘What’s their names?” ‘“T’ve forgot. Called each other ‘ Speck ’ and ‘ Tudge.’ Have been over the road before.” A turnkey barked at the trusties through the guard-door wicket, and they went on slapping their mops more industriously. Douglass had that piece of information, vague and inconclusive as it was, to im- part to Squire Nile at their next interview. ‘The voices sounded like those I have told you about. But I can’t swear that they are the men, of course. The conditions for hearing were not the same here in the jail as they were under the pines that night.” “It’s too bad the thumb-screw system has been abolished,” snarled the squire. “The plan had its defects, but a few good twists would be perfectly justified in a case like this. Knaves of their stripe won’t add to their troubles by any consideration for your scrape. We must stick to our legal last, bub, and keep pegging away. We can’t consider such men as available wit- nesses; we merely know where two rene- gades are, and where they’ll be for some mn (S| QO) NOOK