The Argosy, April 1912 — page 82: what you’re looking at

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

68 She turned to the man. ‘““No, he hasn’t been there,”’ she told him. The man shook his head in a satisfied manner. “That’s right,” he said. “ You can bet he ain’t been there. It’s just what I said. Well, we'll hear from Regan in a minute. He ought to be at Hazard’s office now.”’ In another corner two men with bulldog jaws were browbeating the negro elevator- boy. He had told the same story ten times, and now they were making him tell it again. “T done tol’ y’all,” he was saying, “dat Mistah Hazar’ binged de elevator - bell about ten times as do he was in a hurry, an’ dat w’en he stepped into de car he done ap- peahed flustered lak and all het up. Dere was a cut on his cheek, an’—an’ dat’s all I know, gen’l’men, ’fo’ de Lawd!” “All right,” replied one of his inquisi- tors, who bore an authoritative air. He went over to the clerk’s desk and addressed his companions: “The case looks clear enough,” he said. “Now, you boys go out and bring in this fellow Hazard. Harrigan, you go down to the Union Station. Williams, take the freight-steamer docks, and the rest of you run down his connections. We’ll leave Regan at the office. Now, beat it, all of you, and remember, the old man wants action. See.” So the men disappeared, and the authori-~ tative person, lighting a big, black cigar, be- gan forthwith a series of quick, staccato interviews with various guests of the hotel as they were presented to him by the manager. 1c got little in the way of information from them. They had heard nothing un- usual during the night. Hazard, so far as they knew, was a decidedly inoffensive man, pleasant, likable. They would as soon have suspected a clergyman of guile of any sort as Hazard. He was not a heavy drinker; had, in fact, never been seen to take a drink. His habits were orderly. In short, the nature of their answers was hardly of a sort to meet the views of the man who asked the questions. But they had no effect upon him other than to estab- lish in his mind the conviction that poor Hazard was the slickest customer with whom he had ever had to deal in the course of his professional experience. Meanwhile, all unconscious of the fer- ment at the Chenango Hotel, Oliver Haz- ard pushed open the door of the watch- ~must have left it at the hotel. THE ARGOSY. maker’s and stood drumming nervously with his fingers on the glass case while the jeweler attended to the wants of a patron who had preceded him into the store. “TI have broken my watch-crystal,” said Hazard when the jeweler at length faced him. “TI am somewhat in a hurry. You can put it in while I wait, can’t you?” “Oh, yes,” was the reply, as the jeweler took the chronometer and glanced at it. “Don’t want it cleaned, do you?” “No,” snapped Hazard, with the same sort of irritation a man feels when his bar- ber asks him if he wishes a shampoo. “I told you I was in a hurry.” “Oh, you could leave it, you know,” sug- gested the man. “TI don’t wish to leave it,’’ was the sharp. reply. “TI need it all the time. And I am in a hurry.” “Certainly,” and the jeweler glancing at the watch again. ““Of course you saved the rim?” he add- ed. “It’s missing. Or do you want a new gold rim? They are not very expen—” “No!” interrupted Hazard explosively, “T have the rim, of course.” He fumbled in his overcoat pocket and then shifted his hand to the other side. Each time he withdrew it empty. With an exclamation of annoyance he began a search of the pockets of his inside coat, then of his waistcoat, and finally of his trousers. “Well,” he said finally, “I haven’t it. I How pro- voking. I'll go and get it.” 3 “All right,” smiled the jeweler. ‘“Noth- ing to get excited about.” He gazed at Hazard’s gashed cheek and added pleasant- ly: “Must have been in a fierce scrap this morning?” 66 Eh ? ”? curiously. “I say you must have had a mix-up this morning?” said the man, indicating Haz- ard’s face. “Oh, yes,” Hazard grinned in spite of his ill-nature and following the inclination of all naturally timid men to appear war- like, he winked at the jeweler. “You ought to see the other fellow,” he said. “Ha! man. “Oh, by the way,” added Hazard sud- denly bethinking himself to inform his of- fice as to his tardiness, “may I use your phone? ” Hazard looked at the jeweler Ha!” The jeweler was a jovial cComicloool.