The Argosy, August 1905 — page 181: what you’re looking at

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

‘ be gx < 4 ~~ Py », come—either one of you. E t stand talking there. We'll return for the other afterward. Be quick, I He closed the door, Soon afterward he rapped again. “or God's sake, woman!” he called impatiently. The next time, without rapping, he flung open the door. ‘The princess, clad in the blouse and trousers, was strug- gling with the overcoat which Edith held in her hands. “Let me have it!” Lankirk com- manded between set teeth. In another moment the princess was in its folds. “'Turn up the collar—there! ” He suited the action to the word, and grasping the princess by the arm he | hurrred her through the other compart- ment. “ Walk slowly, keep erect, and don’t speak to any one until Gridley gets you away. Brace up. Now go.” He swung open the door and thrust her out. Then he closed the door, and after locking it he darted back to Wdith. * Get ready to slip into Gridley’s uni- form,” he said. “Hell be here in a minute.” He closed the door. As he turned away from it he drew a white wig over his head and placed over his ears hooks that held a white beard to his face. This done, he nervously paced to and fro, then raised the quilt from the still figure in the corner. “Tt will do,” he said, as he dropped the quilt again. A few moments later there was the sound of fect on the steps without, then a knock on the door. Lankirk opened it. “ All right,” said Gridley. The door was opened wider, and the young millionaire stepped in. Lankirk, now completely disguised as Syiokon, opened the door again and stepped out. “Sentinel, come here,” manded calmly. The sentinel saluted and ran up the steps. When he had entered the com- partment the door was closed and locked he eom- _ “IT want you to iake a message to the + Boon i_~ J a nd ar aS >, — ~~ bas = : #, THE BLACK SMUDGE. ae, << ott. ose , -s *) i. = « cae station-master,” Lankirk said, and ashe spoke a paper that he had been holding in his hand fluttered to the floor. With- out waiting for a request, the sentinel stooped. As he rose, a blow from a short, loaded stick felled him to the floor, Two blows followed in quick suc- cession. When he, too, found a place beside the body of Sviokon beneath the quilt, his uniform and overcoat had been thrust into the adjoining compartment. Attended by two figures m the attire of Russian privates, Lankirk, still dis- guised as Sviokon, left the compart- ment, locked the door behind him and quickly descended from the railway car- ‘ riage. He returned the salutes of the two sentinels who remained on that side of the car, and walked briskly away, with his companions at his heels. One of the sentinels chuckled as he turned io the other. “By the soul of the Great Peter, they’ve recruited Ivan Crasky for the Third Section! ” he said. “* Nay, Ivan Crasky’s still inside the carriage,” replied the other. “I was standing near the steps when they came & a down, and oy But he said no more. Behind ‘ him—— : Three hundred persons standing on the platform of the Kinel station were deafened by the sound of a terrifie ex- , plosion. Four hundred yards down the . railway line there was a blinding flash . of light—then darkness. ' Hundreds of windows in ears and stores and dwellings were shattered mto bits. There was a shower of frag- ments of wood and iron and unsightly things that afterward were identified as pieces of human flesh. +s With, cries of alarm, more than six thousand soldiers leaped from their cars. Hundreds of others lay limply in seats and on floors as a result of the concussion. Rewildered officers shouted orders as bewildering as their own mental facul- ties. Bugles were sounded, and there was a general reaching for rifles and sabers. <4 While the excitement was at its — height, five persons—three in the unt form of privates, one in the overcoat and Si & . << a lilo So - oe ey - ¢ » “ Sioa a : vd * iu i 7. a. cComicbooks.com