Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 7, 1925 — page 139: what you’re looking at

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

THE UNDER DOGS, We three women got out, and entered the narrow passage. I heard the car drive on. We crossed the narrow court behind the front dwelling, and paused while Black Kate opened the door of the rear tenement with a key. I whispered to my mistress: “I am not much disguised. Remember, two of the men of the gang know me.” “They were outside men,” she answered. ‘They do not come to the house.” ~ There were two rooms in this little tene- ment. Black Kate forced us to wait in the first while she manipulated the secret deor within. But her carelessness in revealing the entrance from the street was additional evidence of her determination never to al-. low me to leave the house again. I shiv- ered. I had confidence in my mistress, but just the same it is staggering even to learn that somebody desires your death. She held the door or panel, or whatever it was, back for us to pass through. It was too dark for me to see how it was con- trived. I heard it slide shut behind us. We passed through the second little house, across the flagged yard, and down four steps into a dark room that I knew must be the kitchen where so much had hap- pened. As we entered, some one lit a flar- ing gas jet, and I beheld a meager, ill- favored youth with sandy hair, whe could be no other than Skinny Sam. | His eyes opened wide at the sight of me. Black Kate whispered something to him, and he quickly lowered his eyes. Black Kate led the way out of the kitchen; Jessie followed; I was behind Jessie; and Sam last. The narrow hall outside the kitchen was dark. I was half aware of a door be- ing opened beside me; then I was seized and violently thrust through it. An instinct, quicker than a lightning flash, warned me that there were stairs on the other side of that door. I made a wild pass for the stair rail, and just succeeded in saving my- self. Heavens! what a narrow escape! It turned me a little sick. The door was slammed shut, and a bolt shot. My impulse was to fling myself against the door, and shout, but I restrained it, for fear of spoiling my mistress’s game. She knew where I was and she would take her own measures. It was a hideous moment. Listening with my ear pressed to the crack of the door, I heard. a scuffle outside. I heard Black Kate’s voice, low and excited: “ Hold her arms! Hold her arms! It’s in her stocking!” Then I heard my mustress’s voice raised high: “ Bill! Bill!” That gave me my cue. I added my shouts to hers. I had the unspeakable: relief of hearing a heavy body come half tumbling down through the house. As it rounded the stairs a growling voice demanded: “What the hell’s the matter here?” “Canada Annie,” replied my mistress, panting. ‘ They threw her down cellar.” “ That woman is a spy!” said Black Kate stridently. “She knows all about our af- fairs. It’s. a matter of life and death to us!” ‘‘She’s no more a spy than I am!” said my mistress indignantly. ‘“ She helped me to-night. You wouldn’t protect me.” “You had no business to ring in an out- sider!” cried Kate. Bill said, to Sam I suppose: “ Get out of the way!” The bolt was shot back, and the door opened. “You'll pay dear for this, you fool!” cried Kate to Bill, half beside herself. “Well, anyhow,” he growled, “‘ she don’t go down cellar till there’s been a proper We all went upstairs in a confused man- ner. Bill had Jessie by the arm, and I pressed close behind them. We went inte the room over the kitchen, and somebady lit the gas. A cheerless untidy room, with a dining table covered with a hideously dirty red cloth. The light revealed Bill enveloped in a voluminous bathrobe, his hair standing on end, a figure at once comic and terrible. Black Kate’ 's face was livid with rage. Other men came running downstairs in various states. of undress. I recognized them all from my mistress’s descriptions; lout Fingy Silo; Pap, the decayed ex-con- vict; the neat Httle Abell; and finally the terrier-like figure of Tim: Helder. All wanted to know what was the mat- ter. ‘“Matter enough!” cried Black Kate. “Jessie has let this stranger in on the se- LT the big — EOmMmicboo cS | (E(6)