Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 12, 1927 — page 23: what you’re looking at

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

THUNDERING DAWNS. leaving his house,” Stewart insisted eager- ly. She looked back from the curve of the stairs. ~“ Stupid! do with it.” Stewart watched the hem of a skirt and two tiny suéde shoes disappear up the stair- way. Then he started back to camp. “Hurry up, buddy!” called Sergeant Jennings from the guard tent at the en- trance. “ Make it snappy, or you'll be late for roll call.” “ Boy,” he addressed himself to the latest recruit, “‘ take it from me, there’s another good man gone wrong. I been in the army a long time, and when I see an otherwise sober guy comin’ into barracks walkin’ on the breeze, an’ carrying his hat in one hand, and a lady’s gauntlet in the other, an’ try- ing to walk through the middle of a guard- tent, that spells only one thing—G-A- Double L, gal!” ~~ + - Of course it had nething to CHAPTER VIII. MARTHA DISAPPEARS. HE next day was Sunday and, with with no duties to bother him, Stew- art hurried into town on a passing army truck, and dropped off at the Co- lumbia Hotel. “Miss Lane checked out this mawnin’ early,” the clerk behind the counter drawled, and continued sorting mail. “Didn’t she leave any forwarding ad- dress?” Stewart asked in dismay. The clerk shook his head and frowned. He was a thin young man with spectacles and a receding chin, and he had different sets of manners for different ranks from a major-general down to a buck private. A corporal, for him, did not exist in a social sense. Immediately, however, he discovered a flaw in this philosophy. The hand that this particular corporal extended across the counter was quite concrete, and the grip that was fastened on the clerk’s shirt-front threatened to either drag the clerk across the counter, or separate him forcibly from a Bae Sets a of ake for the — * = es <- ae ae - -~ = ae was nici all around fit to ee x ay ee oe an = Sar 17 ‘“ Leggo!” he squirmed. “ You-all are wrinklin’ me up. I'll call the house detec- tive.” “You'll lose it,” Stewart promised, and gave the immaculate shirt another tug, “ if you don’t speak up now like a little man. Be nice, now! What time did Miss Lane check out, and where did she go?” “Very early,” mumbled the clerk, “ and she took her baggage in a taxi. She ain’t come back yet. It was about time for the eight thirty-three train for the North.” ‘““ That’s better.” Stewart released him. “Sorry to use the strong-arm stuff, but I just had to get the details. It pays to be polite.” ‘ We’re used to gentlemen in this hotel,” the clerk sent after Stewart, ‘‘ not hood- lums. You just try that again—” Stewart was out of earshot on his way to the P. and N. Railroad station. But the sum total of the replies to his inquiries there amounted to nothing. No reservations had been made, but several passengers of both sexes, with and without baggage, young and old, had stepped aboard. The colored porter, sweeping the plat- form, described, under the satisfying stimu- lus of a silver half dollar, half a dozen young ladies he had seen going aboard the train, and would have cheerfully described as many more for another half dollar. “This was a particularly good looking lady,” Stewart explained, striving for words to properly describe one beyond descrip- tion, “ about so high. Brown hair, neat and wavy, and big gray eyes, and walked kind of easy and dainty.” “Boss!” The glad prospect of further remuneration shone in the colored man’s face. ‘‘ Ah done seed that ve’y young lady. Yassuh! Walked just lak you sayed— kinda high-steppin’ an’ proud.” He pranced across the platform to dem- onstrate the cake-walking attitude. “ How was she dressed?” asked Stewart suspiciously. “Dressed! Now you said somethin’, boss. That lady was high-toned, an’ Ah don’t mean maybe! She had on a spangled dress, all silver shiningUNe wid tassels, an’ green stockin’s an’ yaller shoes, an’ her ae at —_ ae ie aap — = = > <—— f= — omicbOoke com Seat