The Argosy, October 1906 — page 92: what you’re looking at

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

Sia ; fee ae “4 eee, weg oe a = ae : ee = a view — See = oe ee ot ee - SS ee x x es aS pe Ease a te See oe a ae Png ESE. a mune oo whit he might have. been® com- jan oe and get me assassinated as an Ses manded_ to do in Case No. 1. Nor, ~ impostor.” : os ee a ndeed; what Case No. 1 might be. “ But—but American women—girls Fe Still, I had learned Crenes to set any of our own country!” = - normal brain awhirl. : ~“ Pete!” observed Billy, pee = on my thoughts, “I promised to set fae Se look like a boiled sheepshead and ‘not move my face till you gave me the cue. Have I made good? And is the SS time up?” : - ~~ * You have; and it is,” I answered. a Seo Before T could” say more he was “out a sof his chair and half-way across the _ “What’s the matter? Where are you - going?” IT called. Ze “T’m going to light on that Sebaste cuss Bas a. eg - on a stray = = Specialty iy wipin’ up Naples ie Fe- = rata. _An’ then every other man in that ~ rotten Brotherhood I can get my hooks into. Lemme go! Quit grabbin’ me!” For I had seized him at the very threshold of the room and, despite his” frantic struggles, succeeded in restrain- _ing him from his insane purpose. * Come back, you idiot!” I ordered. + “J “sure do!” he panted. “ An’ See _ what’ s more, I’m goin’ to do it. Lemme go, can’t you?” = = = Mild measures were absurd, in his - present mood. I tripped him; and as he sprawled to the floor, I calmly sat on his chest. © Now,” 3 ‘you'll listen to rea- = ~ son.’ L said, 2) ee white man!” he snarled, still strug- = 2 gling. “ Pete, I didn’t think it of you!” pat SIO keep you from running into a worse game,” YT retorted. ‘“ You want ~. to rush out and rough-house two men because they happen to be scoundrels. What would you gain? You'd give Pe: ee: ‘away your own hand and get us both assassinated within twenty-four hours. 2 And you'd do nothing toward breaking = up the Vienna Brotherhood. = son ““Sebaste says it numbers over a thou- a sand members. Suppose you licked two = Of. them—suppose, even, that you killed ‘them. There are others to take their places. You’d do no good and only get _yourself imprisoned for life by the Ital- aan = © Do you want to wreck everything?” “Oh, what a dirty game to put up on > “ What can we do? Suppose we went to the authorities with our story? What then? Would the word of two obscure Americans be taken against the oath of native noblemen like Ferata and Sebaste? Even supposing the authorities we ap- pealed to didn’t chance to be members of : the Brotherhood ! ee “We could blazon this story abroad. ; But, to outsiders, it would sound absurd, = so impossible, that we'd simply be =e laughed at. Moreover, we'd expose our- selves to the revenge of this aggregation of precious blackguards, all to no — - pose. - Can’t you see?” : See goss said Billy, Teluctantly,- “I ae see. But it’s a blazin’ shame! An’ to think we've got to sit quiet an’ let this ‘go on! Ain Pt you — as to. do -any-— ea thang fo" == SS eS I had risen. So had he. He evident- = ly bore me no malice for my cough as dling of him.- ) “There’s nothing I ~can nis ses | ae es swered. “At least not for the ‘present. The only hope is to go on with this miserable masquerade and watch for some miraculous opportunity to put a spoke in the Brotherhood’s wheel. This was a very pretty little romantic adven-— ~ ‘ture at the outset, but it has turned into ‘something that looks unpleasantly like ~ ugly tragedy. It’s death to draw -back ; = and, perhaps, it’s death to go on. ‘What’ s your advice?” “We'll go on!” decreed Billy Gregg. CHAPTER oe RAPTURE AND THEN DISMAY. tt In melodramas or “ action romances,” adventure treads close on the heels of adventure, and episode on episode. _ The hero is thus fortunate in being braced constantly against new mis- chances and-has no time at all wherein to calm down, reflect, and grow afraid. Those fiction heroes are lucky chaps. According to every fiction-formula, — Sebaste’s revelation and our® joint Te T =. solve should have been followed at “once — i= ae ea = pe om AES eS oe ee = es I nt ing Fae A MO ae