Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 124, No. 3 — page 116: what you’re looking at

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

490 She read no English, and but littl Span- ish, but the brown-tinted pictures gave her childish pleasure. Beckwith paid no at- tention to her hasty flight, but slumped down in his chair and stared gloomily at the floor. Then, suddenly, a picture on the illustrated sheet grew clear and distinct. It was a picture of Hugh Conway, at the top of his stroke, about to strike a golif- ball. The legend beneath the picture read: “Hugh Conway, well-known multimillion- aire, taking a vacation from business cares at Newport. He is shown driving ‘off, from the first: tee in front of the clubhouse.” Beckwith, staring at the picture of the man whose life he had cheked out a month before, caught his breath and began to swear at the printed sheet, hysterically, as he might have sworn at a ghost. When the fruit steamer stopped on its northern trip, Beckwith took possession of a cabin. He did not quite understand why he was going to New York, but he was fe- verishiy impatient for the ship to leave ’ Bahia del Toro. He had a letter of credit in his pocket, and was determined to find out once and for ali what had happened. If Conway had ‘escaped him before, he would not escape again. In his stateroom Beckwith carried the last batch of papers be had received, and spent much time reading and rereading the items concerning Conway. He weighed again and again eaeh: phrase in the ac- counts of Conway’s mumificent giit to charity, hoping to find therein some hint of Conway’s death. He knew Conway was dead. He had choked Conway’s life from him with his two hands. But why, why, why did not the papers announce the murder ? The ship steamed up the coast with m- credible slowness. It put into Havana with nerve racking deliberation. /There were fresh papers to be secured there, but nene of them told of the murder. Beck- with read them minutely, and as the steam- er neared New York he came out on deck and paced back and forth, smoking inces- santly, torturing his brain for an explana- tion of the silence of the newspapers. His nerves were in shreds when they finally reached New York. He watched ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. . the forts swmg by to his jeft, and the tall buildings of lower Manhattan rise from the water. The fixed expressioniessness of the Statue of Liberty uri him. He was ail impatience to be re and free to happened that had prevented the press from learning of Conway’s death? And why had they printed no word of his neur- der? The leisurely manner of the customs inspectors drove him nearly frantic. When he was at last free to go ashore he was trembling from sheer nervous tension. He went down the gangplank, an olive- pushed roughly through the crowd of peo- ple come to meet the voyagers, and closed hts ears to the soft Spantsh greetings. He failed altogether to see a motion-picture photographer cranking busily. He pressed tree of the assembly of people, and turned impatientiy to the steward behind him. “Trouble you to come with me, sir,’ said a quiet voice at his eibow. Two unimpressive figures in civilian clothes stood, one on either side. The hand of each was m his coat-pocket, where a suggestive bulge warned against resist- ance. : ‘‘ What the devil!” began Beckwith fu- rioualy, and stopped. | ' Wells was standing there, smiling sar- castically at him—Wells the commissioner of police. “ You're wnder arrest for Hugh Con- way’s murder, Beckwith,” he said causti- cally. A dozen ot more delighted men watched the scene, cameras and note-books busy. Beckwith saw the unmistakable signs of the reportorial trade. There was even a wo- man or two among them, " sob-sisters ” be- yond a doubt. “We might as well made it a nice, dra- matic moment, Beckwith,” Wells said dry- ly. “I got your letter, pinned to Conway’s breast. Kind of you to tell me where you were going, and that you ooukin’t be ex- tradited. I wouldn’t have got you but for that. I knew you’d look in the papers for news of your feat; as a matter of fact, you mentioned it in your letter, so I took the boys here into my confidence ”—he nodded COMICLOOOKS Colin