Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 113: what you’re looking at

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

A BOOB THERE WAS. by a glimmer of light which came through under one corner of my blindfold. ‘The stuff was pulled out from the truck all around me, and I could hear hammering and a great giving of orders. I was still under the influence of the chloroform, you understand, and my memories are hazy and disjointed. But I had an impression that an oil-drilling camp was being set up, and somehow—perhaps from something I over- heard—I got a suspicion that it was not for a legitimate purpose. ‘“Presently—how long after I don’t know, for I had been asleep again—I was taken out of the truck and put in the back part of a rough shack. The gag was now taken from my mouth, and I was given something to eat; but my hands and feet were kept tied, and I was still blindfolded. However, as I told you, one corner of the blindfold was a little loose, and by work- ing my face I had got it pushed up so that 1 could manage to see a bit from under it. In this way I caught a glimpse of the man I judged to be in command of the party, a rough-looking red-bearded fellow. “Once more I fell asleep, and when I awoke again I felt stronger and my brain was much clearer. By degrees I succeed- ed in edging over to the side of the shack and getting my eye close to a knothole. It hardly seemed worth all the effort it had cost me, for all I could see was the desert. Still it was something. The time, as nearly as I could judge by the sun, was about noon, but after.the camp was put up there was no work done, for 1 could hear no sounds of activity. It was like a Sunday in its lazy quiet. “Then all of a sudden the man with the red beard began shouting orders, and there was a lot of commotion. I gathered that somebody was coming; but who it was or what the visit meant I couldn’t make out. 1 had to satisfy myself with wondering. “ Evidently, though, it had nothing to do with me; for although the turmoil died down, and after a time I heard the arrival of a car, no one came near me. Neither did any one show up on the somewhat narrow patch of desert which I could see through my knothole. Still, I had nothing else to do, so I kept staring out, and at last 739 two men came strolling by and stopped about twenty feet away from my shack. “One of them was the red-bearded man I had seen before, but the other kept his back toward me and I couldn’t get a look at his face. “ At last, though, he turned, just as he was about to leave; and I almost fainted with amazement. It was Billy Van Car- pen’s partner, J. P. Perkins.” “What!” Bob straightened up as if he had unexpectedly backed into an electric dynamo, and gaped at her with drooping jaw and dilated eyes. “An oil-drilling camp? A red-bearded foreman? Perkins talking to him? Yesterday noon?” he stammered excitedly. “ Why, good Lord, Faith, I was right there myself!” “You?” It was her turn now to stare. “Sure. I drove out to that camp with Perkins and Van. Can you beat it?” He made a hopeless gesture. “I was right there, not more than thirty yards away from you, when Northrup came after me to have me help search for you. In Heaven’s name, Faith, why didn’t you sing out whet you saw J. P. “T tried to,” she explained, “ but my throat was so stiffened from the gag that I could only give a sort of croak.” Glancing at her, Bob saw that her lips were still puffed and swollen from the chafing of the gag, and for a moment he looked ready to do murder. “ The brutes!” he ejeculated vindictive- ly. “Vd just like to get my hands on them.” Faith went on, unheeding the interrup- tion. ‘““No; I couldn’t make anybody hear,” she said. ‘“ And afterward I got to think- ing that maybe it was just as well.” “ Just as well?” Bob repeated indignant- ly. “ How do you get that way? Do you think Northrup and I would have—” “Ah, but I didn’t know you were there, Bobolink! It only struck me that since J. P. was so chummy with the red-bearded man, the chances were that he already knew about my capture, if indeed he and Van Carpen were not directly responsible for it. You know, I’ve already told -you that I believed those two a pair of crooks,” COmicoooks (C@