Argosy All-Story Weekly, July 11, 1925 — page 48: what you’re looking at

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

eid ted tS NTN (env ie ie He studied his awkward feet. Something flashed above his line of vision. His gaze lifted and he sat bolt upright. <A slender yellow-haired girl stood like an ivory statue near the doorway, clad mainly in glinting sandals, tassels of beads, and a vivid cloth of gold which hung gracefully from her shoulders and shimmered in the light. She puffed at a cigarette in a long holder, speaking to Paula through the smoke: “ Do I go on now or wait awhile?” “Go ahead!” ordered Paula. Other dancers appeared before his vision, one of them in fluffy white, two in Spanish costumes. They gathered near the doorway, talking and laughing. “Do you do this very often?” blurted Steve. Paula nodded a negative, causing her large ornamental earrings to jingle. “Not very. I could not afford it!” “No; I couldn’t, either. There’d be a riot!” ‘SOh, this is only a tidbit. Really an ex- periment. If wish to see how my friends like it The girls passed beyond the lighted door- way. There was a yell. Hands clapped. The music swung into a fast dance. Paula arose. “I must attend to my guests!” Then courteously: “ Would you prefer to be shown your room. You must be quite tired.” Wistfully Steve looked toward the light- ed door. He was gripped by a great curi- Osity. “ Well,” he hesitated, “if you think I’d better go to bed—” She was game. Her chagrin was quickly effaced. Nodding, she took his hand and led him through the doorway into a big oak- paneled room, where he blinked amid bright lights and a blur of moving figures. A mass of faces turned toward him, making him - realize his horrible impudence; but it was too late. Paula raised a graceful arm. “ My friends, I wish to present my brother, Ste- phen Kane. He has just arrived from Ari- zona after perilous adventures, including a shipwreck.” — : Hands clapped loudly. Steve sensed that , % 202 ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. he was a very interesting freak, and his face was blank with consternation. A voice bawled at him through the noise: “ Atta boy! Water, water everywhere, and not a bootlegger in sight!” steve grinned, but only for an instant. Paula led him around, introducing him to the mass of strangers whose shifting figures were further confused in his brain by the shimmer of lights upon polished floors, pol- ished piano, glinting silver, and stacks of varicolored dishes on a corner table. Steve was led up to a stout woman in black; a slim gentleman with a huge nose; a sporty looking married woman; a wealthy publisher who looked like a bartender; a pair of pretty blondes in dark blue who shrank from him; a thin maiden with spec- tacles and short hair; a demure young wom- an in plain white whose brown eyes were direct and friendly; a handsome, keen-eyed, black-mustached man whose smile was genuine; several others not so attractive; an army major; a bearded man who looked like an artist; a jumble of young men and girls; and finally a great mountain of flesh whose loose, flabby, pinkish, bland visage was belied by a pair of blue eyes with a gimlet stare utterly without expression. He arose ponderously and lifted a wineglass. _“ Here’s to the shipwrecked cowboy! © May he never take water again!” There was a laugh, but Steve saw Pauia’s eyes narrow. The stout man gulped his wine and subsided quickly. The little dancer with the golden scarf, standing motionless in a corner, allowed her reddened lips to curl in a slight smile. Steve backed away. “ Do not be alarmed!” came a courteous voice alongside him. “ Paula saw a dancer like that in the movies one time, so she thought she’d try it. Rather daring. It doesn’t matter, of course; we’re willing vic- tims to Paula’s experiments. We’re used to them!” Steve turned to the keen-faced man whose intelligent eyes were smiling. “Tm a lamb and plumb lost!” admitted the man from Arizona. “ But I’m sure you'll like us. We are not so abandoned as we may seem. Mixed crowd, of course. Paula’s crowds are al- ways mixed. We expect it. Hello—there’s = ‘comicbooks (EO)