Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 19, 1924 — page 31: what you’re looking at

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

COLOSSUS OF THE RADIO, no public mention of incoming =nants, Bill had a suspicion that this hu.se was not empty. It was his belief that there was some one, or possibly more than one, occu- pant of the house. If so, what were they doing there? There was no furniture in the place. Nothing, so far as he could tell, worth stealing. Yet, one night, Bill thought he had seen or imagined he had seen, the flash of a light through a crevice in one of the boards on the window to the right of the front entrance. That light had come and gone in an instant. “Did I really see it, or was it just my fancy?” thought Bill. “I feel sure I was not mistaken. If nothing happens to-night, Tl get the keys from the agent to-morrow and take a look over the inside. Mean- while it won’t hurt me to wait.” Silent as a shadow and motionless as one of the trees, Bill kept watch, but not a sign of life came from the house. For over two hours Bill stuck to the job he had set him- self; then, far from satisfied that everything was as it should be, he moved away. He went as cautiously as he had come. He promised himself when he got back to the road that he would return the next day. “Tl give Nick a call,” he decided with a sharp scrutiny of his surroundings; then set off at a rapidly increasing pace. Far behind him, running from tree to tree, crouching low and hiding in the dark- est shadows, followed a trailer more cunning than Bill. CHAPTER It. THE THING IN THE DOORWAY. HE old barn, or garage, as Nick called a it, was not far from the house Bill had been watching. He arrived in sight of Nick’s place all primed to hand out a calling down to the young man. In a very few words Bill summed up the case in his own mind. “ It’s nearly a year now that he’s been working over that invention of his,” he thought. ‘“ Turned up a good job and ain’t done nothing since but make a mystery of himself. Nice feller, Nick, but I’m going to tell him what’s on my mind.” - him any tricks. O01 This was Bill’s intention, but it was put off for a while. At the open gate of the yard in front of the garage, Bill came to a sudden stop. About fifty feet away was the dark front of the garage. No light showed, and—the doors were wide open. It was too dark a night to be able to see details, but Bill’s eyes were not playing That square, black open- ing marked the entrance to the garage, There was no light. The door was open. Where was Nick? A feeling of alarm came over Bill. He started forward and— came to a sudden stop. Something moved in that square of blackness. It was a mon- strous thing. Broad and high. Its head nearly touched the top of the door frame. It—it couldn’t be a man. Yet—yet it was like nothing else. Bill was a big man himself. Also, he was not lacking in his full share of courage; but for the moment he stood unable to move. ‘The strangeness of that huge, gray thing robbed him of the power to stir. What was it? It was real enough; solid; it had moved. It was alive. A living, gigantic man. Now it stood there motionless. Was it watching him—waiting to attack him? Bill’s hand moved to his hip pocket. His fingers closed on the butt of his automatic. Then, somewhere to the right of him, he heard a faint snapping sound as if some one had trodden on a dry branch or bit of glass. He looked sidewise. Some little dis- tance away he saw a forward bent figure of a man. Bill could not see the man’s face, but he judged he was staring at the thing in the doorway of the garage. “Hey, you!” shouted Bill. ‘“‘ Come—” Without a word the man turned, and in a moment he was gone. Bill heard the rapid fall of his flying feet. “Skunk,” muttered Bill, and looked again at the garage. Whatever it was, he was determined to tackle it himself. Such was his intention, but—there was nothing there. The black, square opening was empty. The gigantic thing had gone. Where? The mystery angered Bill. He ran for- ward. As he reached the sill of the garage entrance he heard a door slam; a click, and the light came on. oO Gomichoo S (S@) .* AD pide A ad : Tien 4 i e,