Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 7, 1925 — page 29: what you’re looking at

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

NORTH STAR, _ entered under her brother’s name. He had — _ bought a book on the subject, and, for his own satisfaction, had checked up on North Star’s points. He used the scale drawn by the German Shepherd Dog Society, which valued the perfect specimen at one hundred points. And in none had North Star fallen down. It was an assured fact that the dog would sweep the field. Firmly embedded in his mind was the zdée fixe that when he placed North Star before the judge the paramount thing was to have the dog’s ears erect and his head up. He rehearsed it many times. To North Star the moment of judgment was but another incident in the long ordeal , that had swiftly become a senseless night- mare, the chief horror of which was the _ officious and intolerable proximity of Rob- bins. The strain had wearied his body to desperation and there was no heart in him, no one near by whom he could love, no one to awaken to its best advantage his great pride, no one to warn him that he was to strive for competitive success, — He felt numb. He wanted to go away, back to the library in the house on the ~ Avenue, back to the fading scents of the young master whom he loved. He wanted rest for his tired body; he wanted sleep; and he wanted a cessation of the jarring clash of scents, of lights, of crowds, and of the’ proximity of Robbins. But Robbins would give him none of these things. He weet with Robbins with a mechanical obedience before the judge. He saw with- out comprehending the things he saw. His surroundings were a grating cloud from which he drew deeper and ever deeper into his alleviating memories. He stood. He held his ears erect and his head up—for a while. At a sharp command from the hated voice he held them up again. The rest of his body failed utterly to comply. He left it composed in the tired position of slight relaxation that was most soothing to his aching muscles. Robbins did not notice that the position turned the body a certain way, throwing out its joints. The critical eyes of the judge then saw faults which North Star in reality did not - possess, = A499 _ The moment passed. An hour passed—an hour that built up in unbearable amounts his great weariness of nerves, of body, and of soul. At last he was in the motor and knew that he was going home. He sank at the feet of Marcia and Rob- bins, and gave =e up to the soothing relief of the car’s smooth motion. His eyes, already sodden, closed to embrace sleep. A sharp, aaa pain on the side . of his head flexed him to his feet with the force of a burst of as He stood trembling. Great surges of passion blinded his senses to everything but the withdrawn hand of Robbins which had been responsible for the unforgivable indignity, the sharp stab to his pride, of being struck. He had never been struck before. The impulse to kill flared from the em- bers of his already present hate. A harsh sound swelled from his throat. He tensed for the spring. He heard Marcia scream. He heard her sharp, ‘‘ Down, North Star! Down!” His passion, with great fingers, craggetl him from the rock of obedience — which hac been built the whole fabric ar = life. He wavered—hesitated. “ Down!” came again the command. Trembling, sick, confused, he sank back upon his haunches. ‘It was the just reward for failure,”’ said Robbins in a voice that he strove to keep from trembling. Marcia, for a full moment said nothing. The color had returned to her cheeks. It continued to surge into them until they were flame. She stared steadily at Rob- bins, seeing him ever more clearly as scale after scale dropped its glass of illusion from her eyes. “Tf you ever strike that dog again,” she said, ‘‘ if you ever touch that dog again, Ill kill you.” | CHAPTER IX. CAST OUT.. T was on the head, elbows, and paws that North Star first began to feel an intense itching and irritation that pre- vented him from sleeping and began to de- stroy his appetite. As the disease attained EO mnichbooks-co mn