10-Story Detective Magazine, April 1946 — page 74: what you’re looking at

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

Hitchhike to a Hangnoose By Richard Brister 4 When Joe Pender stopped | fo pick up that benighied hitchhiker, Joe’d been on i| fis way to meet his fan- i cee. But after he'd | stepped on the gas again, i; Joe learned his road now | led only to a hangnoose 4 rendezvous with Satan. Kk HAD no more than « fleeting lH glimpse of the hitchhiker, before : he had passed him. His right headlight had blanked out about fifty miles back; it was dark as pitch in thia desolate Louisiana swamp country, Be- sides, he'd been on the verge of dozing. The monotonous whine of his tires across the macadam had half-hypnotized him. He went whipping right past. His tired eyes flicked only briefly toward the beckoning figure. That was all, He might have ignored that mendican€é thumb. But he had been driving since noon. His ‘radio was on the fritz. He needed an ear to bend, he thought, amiling, and reflected that the Aymy had made an extrovert of him. He was oué now, on points, but he’d learned how to ride his own thumb, as a soldier. He felt a quick sympathy for that poor devil back there, marooned at night im this bleak swamp country. He stamped the brake pedal and pulled over onto the shoulder. Maybe he was a fool and taking hia chances, but, hell, that was life as he'd learned in the Army. You never knew. The guy might ‘just turn out to be a good Joe. They could maybe have themselves a time swapping lies with each other. Ité was dark in the coupé’s front seat. QGne panel light cast a pale glow against the threadbare cushions, It bathed the guy's face as he entered, You could make out the white of his hands, but his dark clothes were a question mark against the night's black drop curtain. “Didns figure you was gonna stop, pal.” The voice was breathless from. running. “Goin’ far, are ya?” “New Orleans. Hope to be there along toward midnigh€. Been drivin’ since CORMIC OOO S CO Af