Argosy All-Story Weekly, November 13, 1920 — page 131: what you’re looking at

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

WHAT WAS THAT? underbrush, ran from that over a tree- bough, so that’ the pulling could be easily done by weight if the work were hard. “ Frank Lethridge was caught in the trap as he triumphantly fumbled over the thing he’d been hunting so long. Then he was pulled out of his boat, into’ deep water, and held there until the bubbles stopped rising and the surface was still. So far—all right; but at that moment some one came along—perhaps Gustave in a boat, or a farmer’s boy—-anyway, the murderer had to drop the rope and hide. '“ The Echo came forward after the boat had slipped away, pulled wildly, following the lead he’d seen, broke the hand off where the trap had weakened it—the arm and hand slipped under the root, but not the body—and then went bounding off with his find. I suppose Harry Greenleaf had a bad moment or so, don’t you?” We nodded. . . “Frank kissed me that day,” said Jane, ‘“so that Nathan, who was looking on, should think us sweethearts and not sus- pect. Then he went on, pretending he was going home, but intending to take the road on the other side of the creek—as he did— and—”’ Her voice faded. ‘“‘ Gloria?” asked Gustave. “Killed by Harry, as you know, be- cause she was his amour and loved some one else. -She was Vera Struthers of the flats, whom Rudolph Loucks had tried to ruin. She, from that experience, was an- other one who was ripe and ready for the cult that harms the man who controls. She lived with Greenleaf in New York until it got hot for her—there was some suspicion —then they hurried her up here; the judge, at Nathan’s request, suggesting her to the town’s doctor for the case. “Nathan controlled every move of that old man. Knew where his brother was, you know, and threatened to disclose it. Always scared of his life, that old codger. That day April found him poking here he was hunting for letters from Joseph, thinking some of the anonymous blackmailing ones might still be around. That shows how rattled he was, for the place had been pret- ty well combed years before.” We were silent for a few moments. I was picturing Harry Greenleaf’s vigil. I saw him creeping through the woods, with the soft tread he had learned as a country boy; coming upon Gloria and Gustave, watching, watching—laughing silently when he saw her go white, her eyes widen, dark- en, in a fear that was almost mad. It was he who had worn Jane’s frock, he. who made Gustave-think Jane followed them; he who kept the country folk quelled by his ghostly appearances and made the bun- galow an unpopular place for night parties. Most of the important work was done at night, and then—as the dawn broke—hid- den in a. box, sunk in the creek, by Na- than. | Perhaps the most picturesque bit of the affair was the meetings in the room of the voiceless husband of Linda Beasley. Here, in the shadows, which were brought to be- ing by a wavering candle-light, Gloria and Harry talked. For the most part in low- ered tones, but once and again, as when Linda thought she’d heard her husband’s voice, theirs would rise over some alterca- tion. { can visualize it entirely. The law-abiding citizen who lay on the bed, chained and made harmless by his infirmities, listening to talk that must have set even his flesh to creeping horribly. Perhaps he’d watch the brutal caresses of Harry Greenleaf, see through Gloria’s re- sponse a shrinking—the new shrinking. Seeing in Gloria’s eyes a wonder about— ~ how much he, this master and lover of hers, knew. “You came from New York to-day?” she would ask. “Yes. Some people moving to Franklins- burg—”’ Part time he drove a moving van which plied over the Lincoln way. “ Na- than signaled not to stop. That crowd’s made hell for us.” The affair was discovered by Dick through Nathan’s signals. After he’d read a message that flashed “ Start two to- morrow,” he shattered the glass with his mighty good shot, to find that it was a bet- ter, stronger glass than was necessary for moth catching, and the sort of glass that is manufactured in only one place. He lo- cated this-and-the buyers, from which list Gomichbooks 409 (E(0)]|