The Argosy, Vol. 82, No. 3 — page 107: what you’re looking at

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

® HIS MAD MOVE ON THE MOVIES. “Now, Jimmy, I don’t—” Darton laid a hand on his old friend’s knee. “Tom,” he said, “I’d rather listen to you than to anybody else in the world, but just now I need every second for hard thought. Will you just sing your self a little song and look at the architecture for the next six or seven minutes, while I think? Thanks!” Squelched, the artist edged into his own corner of the crowded cab and studied his friend’s profile with a quizzical smile, the while he did some thinking of his own, His thoughts dealt mainly with the advis- ability of calling the police and having Jim- my Darton taken somewhere for observa- tion, but they had reached no definite goal when, with a satisfied grunt Darton stepped out again and threw over his shoulder: “Come on, Tommy. I may want your opinion as an artist.”’ Morely passed a hand over his puzzled forehead and tagged obediently after into a new, office-like salesroom, where a brisk in- dividual advanced to meet Darton. The writer came down to business at once. ‘low many men can you put on a job at once? I want a plate engraved for a letter- head.” “Well, only one man—” ‘Never mind that; how soon can I have it? Just an ordinary plate with ten or fifteen words engraved on it?” “Tf it is a rush job, we might get it out for you within three or four days.” Darton shook his head and, twitching off a bit of wrapping paper, whisked out his fountain-pen. “That’ll never do; I have to have it by six o’clock to-night, sharp. Here! . Here is what I want; look!” Quite unaware that the other, after a start, was staring hard at him, Jimmy Dar- ton sketched quickly. Morely, looking over his shoulder, saw first a neat arc, composed of “The American Committee,” and under it the single word “for.” And under the “for” as Morely watched appeared “The Protéction of Motion Picture Writers.” CHAPTER III. THE AMERICAN COMMITTEE. ON the face of the thing, Jimmy Darton had gone stark, staring mad. The en- graver man did not see this, of course, be- cause he was not acquainted with Jimmy 7X. _~ 481 Darton’s usually calm, sane~self; more- over, he was a square-chinned, practical person, just now wholly absorbed in the letters that flowed from Darton’s fountain- pen. But Thomas Morely saw it and felt that he understood. Sibyl Dane and “The Fate of the World” had done the infernal trick; these two blows, coming too swiftly and too heavily, had stood upon edge that high- strung quantity, James’s reason! At present it was rolling along swiftly toward the limitless nowhere! James needed friends badly, and Thomas Morely was glad that he stood at the poor young man’s side; he braced himself for a quiet, strong protest—and even as he braced, Jimmy Darton was asking: “Well? That won’t take three days?” \ ‘That, normally, would be the least time we should ask,” replied the other. “‘At the same time, we have a couple of men here who are rated as the finest and fastest workers in the country and—is that all the lettering?” Jimmy Darton shook his head. ‘“‘No. There’s a little line in each corner. Here—like this:” The pen scratched again. In one corner of the wrapping paper slip appeared: ‘James H. Darton, Chairman,” which was ‘mild enough; but the inscription for the other corner stung Morely, for it confirmed his worst suspicions. This latter line read: \ “Available Fund, $10,000,000.” The clerk whistled softly. ‘“That’s all. Can you do it for me on time?” Darton rapped out. The clerk’s eyes had not yet left the mystic “$10,000,000.” ‘““Not by six o’clock, perhaps, but—” ‘““Well—here!” Darton said impatiently. “T’ve brought you ten thousand sheets which I want stamped. I want one thou- sand of them before nine o’clock to-morrow morning and the balance during the day if possible; if you can’t give me the whole , ten thousand, I want them delivered, thou- sand by thousand, as soon as the ink on them is dry—and I want the ink doctored so that it’ll dry in a,very few minutes, too. Well?” “You know, I presume, that it will cost quite a bit if we keep the two men here working into the night, and hold the stamper and his helper so that they’re ready to go to work as soon as the plate is finished?” (E@) .00K (S@)