Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 146: what you’re looking at

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

936 ‘“ Raise nothing, change nothing,” Alli- son said. “ You put the deal through. Tl take care of the check. Or at least Horton will.” Radcliffe looked at Horton. He had been drumming on the table top with his fingers. Radcliffe noticed now, as he had often noticed before, that those fingers were long and supple. 5 ‘“‘ Horton’s a forger?” he asked. ‘“ You merely want to get Mrs. Seagrave’s signa- ture so that Horton will know what it is like?” “T have Mrs. Seagrave’s signature,” Alli- son said. ‘She gave Miller a check for the lease. But I can’t do anything with that. We've got to have a deal such as the sale of your foundry would represent. The bank must know about it through Mrs. Seagrave. That will require a little prelim- inary action, You can get her to give you a check for part of the amount right away. We'll get that cashed, and you can have the bank find out from Mrs. Seagrave what the first check is for. It’s a hundred to one shot that she will not name the total price. Then you rush the papers to her the next day and get the check for the balance. We'll have another check ready. You can hurry it to the bank and get it cashed, and we will be up and away before anything is discovered. It’s a trick to be turned just before the bank closes for the day.” “ Do you mean that you would have me present a bogus check, get the money, and flee?” Radcliffe gasped. ‘‘ Why, I’d be a fugitive from justice.” Allison could not keep a gleam of satis- faction out of his eyes. Radcliffe, in his agitation, did not see it. “TJ didn’t expect you to go that far, Rad- cliffe,” he said. ‘So here’s the plan. J’ll bring a man out here from Cleveland. You will take him up to-the bank and introduce him. You'll say that you’re expecting a call from the East—a business call. You’ve got a big deal on, and you must go when you’re summoned. This man will be a law- yer. You will give him power of attorney to wind up your affairs. That will enable him to cash the check. To make every- thing more certain, he will catch you at Cleveland and have you indorse the check. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. He'll come back here and get the money, and we will turn your share over to yéu.” “My share?” Radcliffe asked. “Tt ’ll be seventy-five thousand dollars,” Allison said. ‘And when the investigation begins they’ll be looking for me to arrest me for having indorsed a check which will be for a sum much greater than the original check,” Radcliffe said. “ But the lawyer won’t really see you in Cleveland,” Allison sneered. ‘‘ Don’t be al- together a chump. You will be in Buffalo or Schenectady, or any other place you like. You can prove you were not in Cleveland. We'll take care of your signature on the new check.” ‘““My God, Allison, you’re a criminal Radcliffe gasped. “As if you didn’t know it,” Allison said. “You knew what we were going to do with this rubber stock, and that didn’t make your gorge rise. Well, what do you say?” Radcliffe sat plunged in thought for a long time. The plan seemed to render him immune from prosecution. He didn’t really care about the criminality of it if he could escape the results. And he was so involved that he saw no other way out. “ Well, Vl go up to see Mrs. Seagrave,” he said. “ I'll take that first step, and see how things pan out. I won’t commit my- self definitely till I see her. I don’t know that I can go through with it.” “ Just keep your nerve and you can,” Allison said. “How do I know that you will divide with me after you get the money?” Rad- cliffe asked with sudden suspicion. Allison had foreseen the question. He had been surprised that Radcliffe had not asked it sooner. “As soon as everything is set, you and I will leave Cleveland in a high powered motor car,” he said. ‘ Before we go you can search me to make sure that I have no weapons. You can take a gun along. [ll stick to you closer than a brother. We'll get a suite of rooms in a hotel in Buffalo. I'll keep under cover and you can establish your alibi. Will that satisfy you?” Radcliffe felt a little lift of his spirits. The plan looked feasible, and the danger oO Commiclbooks 1? (S@)