Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 123, No. 4 — page 85: what you’re looking at

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

Conistone’s wooden ‘cottages from the street, and came at last to a spot where the doctor halted. TEACH: PIRATE DE LUXE. ‘ She’s in there,” he said simply, and un- - latched the gate, and passed down the gar- den path between box-hedges and flower- beds. He paused a moment with his hand on the gate. ‘“* You see thuse flowers? Laura planted them. She loves flowers. So do I. Also flower scents. I loathe, abher, and detest other scents. “Well, it’s three o’clock in the morning and Conistone won’t disturb you. But keep quiet or you'll disturb Laura. I'll be back in half an hour, ready to be hanged ’ with the rest of you. So, till then.” The two waited while Dr. Cray’s heavy tread crunched up the garden path. They heard him knock at the door, saw him bend down his ear to listen. They saw him tap impatiently with one heavy square- toed shoe. Then the door opened, and a fat, blowsy man wavered under the lintel. “ How is Laura?” ‘“‘ My wife, if thash lady you’re referring to, not t’ home to callers.” Dr. Cray took his patient’s husband by the collar and shook him till his teeth rat- tled. Then he hauled him out of the door- way, and ran him backward down the gar- den path, and handed him to Captain Teach. ~ “T£ you will cut this sot’s throat I would be obliged. If youre not here profession- ally at the moment, just be a decent man and keep him out of my way till I’m through. Look at your watch. You've given me half an hour, remember. It’s a short allowance, but Ill make it do. “Only mind, don’t let William weedle you round. He got a first class in law my year at Harvard, and he’d argue drinks out of the Earl of Hell if the old gentleman only let him talk. Make him drunker, by all means, if you like, but don’t let him babble. ‘IT know you're a gentleman, Teach, as well as a damned pirate, so I ask you per- sonally to see to this.” “Thank you for the confidence,” said Teach. ‘“ You may rely on it that I will attend to William faithfully, according to ~~ % 591 your prescription. And, doctor, if you can’t be through with your patient com- fortably within half an hour, take a bit more time. I’m sure you won’t keep us waiting here longer than is necessary.” ‘““We shall get on together,” said Dr. Peter Cray. ‘‘ Well, good-by for the pres- ent.” | The village clock announced three-thirty, four, and four-thirty with cold composure. A thin dawn was coloring the ground mist when Cray at last came out of the cottage. To give William his due, Dr. Cray walked just as shakily. His face was gray and lined, and his big. capable hand twit- tered as he lifted it to his forehead. “And _ that’s that,” he announced. ‘Now, then, Captain Teach, I am ready to go off and be hanged, when the time comes, with the rest of you. I’ve nothing here to come back to.” ‘““T thought you was married, sir,’ said Llewelyn Jones, as they walked off to- gether down the village street toward the creek. ‘I thought that very attractive lady up at your house was Mrs. Cray.” “‘She is. Perhaps I should have been more accurate and said there was nothing I wanted to come back to. fact, my patient, the one that I went to see, was the only woman I ever cared about. As a point of . “You may say, if you like, I killed her. - Anyway, she did not want to live. You see, she married the bag of liquor who was in- troduced to you as William. That’s quite sufficient reason—if you know William. As for my own be-dyed and be-scented better half, she’s much too expensive a luxury. ‘“So now, my merry pirates, lead on, and let’s have as hectic a time as we can while it lasts. If only you can provide me with some surgical practise, that’s all I have to ask. I’ve some things to work out. If we turn off to the left here, that’s the nearest way to the boat landing.”’ Now, to make a dramatic ending to this episode of collecting Dr. Cray, I should end here. But history is dramatic only by accident, and to make my history com- plete, I must continue further. Original froma THE OHIO STATE | 6 UI! O SIAITE UNTVERDS| lODOOLK CO