All Story Magazine, December 1913 — page 77: what you’re looking at

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

A. THIEVES’ And in the winking of an eye she had kissed me! CHAPTER XXIII: THE MOTORMAN, THE small hand tugged again, and I did not have to be told that it was Della‘s, as I swung round in the direc- tion in which I thought the door ought to be. , But I did not have to search for it or open it. A large hand gripped my arm, thrust me forward into a greater darkness, and in a second I heard the click of a key turning in a lock. Then I knew that I was in the kitchen and alone. I did not hesitate or halt to think of anything save that the door to the yard was “straight ahead,” and in a few moments I had found it, pulled the kitob to the right, and was out in the open air. Whew! But that was good after the reeking weight of the atmosphere in the back room; and I stood for a few seconds breathing it deep down into my lungs. Then I turned to my right. “Two wire fences and a wooden one,’ I repeated to myself. “And Brannigan’s back door.” How ridiculously simple it had been! And how perfectly Rollins had been fooled! I had heen at sea most of the time myself. Everything had been so utterly unlike what I had anticipated. As I crept under the first fence the commotion in the “ Clachan” died away, so I presumed the lights had been turned on again, and peace re- stored. I speculated upon what Rollins thought of it—if anything had hap- pened to him in the dark; not that I cared particularly whether anything had or not, so long as the little beast wasn't killed. I hoped Campbell's ar- rangements had been content to stop at the fifty thousand dollars he had paid for the evening's amusement. COMEDY. 787 Crawling under the second fence, confident that no danger could lurk in the back yards of unoccupied shops, I straightened up and tiptoed toward the last hurdle that separated me from Brannigan’s. The fence was of boards, rickety in every sense of the word. I was half way over when I felt the tug of a nail that threatened to rip the pocket of my coat, and as I tried to free myself without damage, a hand came out of the darkness behind me and hauled’me back to earth! For a second or two I did not know what to think. I could only feel the pressure of very powerful fingers about my arm, and was conscious of a dark shadow that looked down at me and inquired very quietly: “Where do you going?” I blinked up at the fellow, with my tongue glued to the roof of my mouth, and saw, after my eyes became clearer, that he was a tram-car motorman—the one who had preceded Rollins and my- self down Fifty-Fourth Street. ““W—what are you doing here?” I managed to articulate. ‘ What right have you to—” “ Now, sonny, I'll make it easy for you,” he interrupted quietly.“ Don’t ask no questions. Any man hereabouts that takes to climbing back-yard fences this hour o' the night can’t afford to be inquisitive about another fellow’s game. You ar’ me are goin’ to a nice quiet place to have a little talk.” “ But, great guns, man, I—” “That'll be about all. Keep it till it’s needed.” Q I did not understand, and all the while he spoke he kept a firm grip upon my arm, but when he tried to pull me with him down the yard I objected forcibly and succeeded in wrenching myself free. But it was only for a minute. With an oath, which I flattened with ny left against his teeth, he rushed upon me, and in trying to avoid him I tripped and fell backward, - comlicbooks.com think you're