10-Story Detective Magazine Cover — page 51: what you’re looking at

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

“| Ss ek is 4 “PE ’ —— a Cork ——— . - ss 5 = ES Pe oe wey £ SR Ti ose —- — ae slowly, a bright light shining in his faded eyes, “that was a mighty hon- est thing to do, bringing back them diamonds you — ah — found. Yeah, guess the — er — thief must have been frightened. He hid the diamonds in the soiled jaundry and — and then never had a chance to go back for ’em. You know, Johnny”—his face was very serious—‘“‘we never will find out who that thief was!” He sighed, shrugged. “Well, I’m not interested —now! Mr. Riker got back his jew- els and — and the case is closed!” “But—but, chief,” Johnny Dowst stammered. “I want to tell you about—” “It’s closed, Johnny,” Chief Mad- dox said gently. His sudden laugh was hearty. “Let’s talk about some- thing really important. Take Satur- day night, for instance, I guess you was the most surprised man in West- view when the Board of Trade elected you first vice president, wasn’t you? The boys railroaded that through and elected you by a rising vote. Every mother’s son of ’em stood up! “You were appointed chairman of the Law and Order committee, too! It’s the most important committee of all, Johnny. It’s paying you finally, Johnny, for how you’ve worked for Westview. 1’m proud of you! You’ve “made good in Westview,. son, made - Johnny Dowst was standing very straight. His face was lifted a bit as if he were staring toward some far horizon, a horizon where the sun al- ways shone and it was bright and fair. There was a strange light shin- - 4ng in his clear gray eyes, eyes that - yight now couldn’t see very well be- cause it is so hard to see through tears. And as he gripped the hard hand of the old poliee ehief he said, very low, almost in a whisper: - “I — I think Id better go tell Bet- ty now. About the — the laundry!” He ran blindly from the office. Police Chief Maddox’s big thigh hit agaist the corner of the desk as he walked toward the safe. For some | reason he couldn’t see very well him- self, The police chief fumbled in a pri- vate drawer of the safe and finally brought out a worn sheet of paper. He adjusted his glasses and read what was written in that brief letter. It said: Dere Soup MeGraw:— You’H find Slip Dowst down in a burg called Westview. It’s a hick town if ever I seen one. Now you got the combinashun of that Riker box, you an Slip can go to town. Slip’s the best man in the US with a box. Look me up when you and Slip come to Chi with them rocks. Luck, bo! Jitter A happy smile on his tanned face, the police chief struck a match, The flame wavered momentarily and then burned strong. Chief Maddox held the flame to a corner of the paper, watched it burn into black ash. “No need of Johnny ever knowing I found this letter in Soup McGraw’s pocket,” he said in a whisper to him- self. “Guess Johnny overlooked it when he—he got that combination of the Riker safe!” Again there was moisture in the old man’s eyes, He was thinking of Johnny Dowst, of how he looked there for a moment when he was star- ing off inte space. It was as if sud- denly a bright and shining mantle had slipped from nowhere ento John- ny’s straight shoulders, a mantle that was far brighter than a million dia- monds,