The Argosy, Vol. 83 No. 1 — page 163: what you’re looking at

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

HIS MAD MOVE going to let you try it, Jimmy. Wait a minute and I[’ll have Hammond in and get the latest news from the front.” He grinned excitedly as he slipped into the next room, for it was plain that Jimmy Darton could not follow without a strug- gle. Sibyl, her eyes round with real fright, was clinging to Jimmy Darton’s arm as a drowning man clings to the last of his raft; and Jimmy after a moment of tugging slipped an arm around her and re- laxed. The bodyguard of the American Com- mittee’s chairman was just about to enter the inner office; and if he had been per- turbed before, he was downright anxious now. His clothing was rumpled, too, and as he brushed past Morely he spoke di- rectly to his chief: “Say, if you’re going to get out of this, boss, you’ll have to move fast.” “Why?” ‘“‘Some of ’em are wise to this side door, Mr. Darton, in spite of all the boys could do in the way of lying. There’s a bunch outside at this minute, wondering whether to take a chance and smash through.” “But what do they want?” Sibyl cried. Hammond grinned faintly. “Well, this here situation is kind of tangled, miss, and it changes pretty fre- quent and peculiar,” he said. ‘‘Up to the last fifteen or twenty minutes, most of ’em seemed to want to know whether Mr. Darton really had ten million dollars on him and whether they could get it and di- vide it up. That’s as near as I can make it out from what they’ve been yapping about. Everybody out there wanted to get paid from one hundred to ten thou- sand dollars, and they were ready to start trouble if they didn’t get it.” “We know that, but—” Darton began. “Well, things are different this last fif- teen minutes, boss. ‘There’s a red-headed guy out there now making a speech, and he’s making such a hit with it that the boys don’t dare pull him down and throw him out.” ““A speech about what?” “You, boss. This here guy with the ON THE MOVIES. 153 strawberry top is telling them that the whole thing’s a plot of the people who make moving pictures; he’s telling them that the whole idea is for them to throw up their jobs and strike—and most of ’em have done that now, I take it—so that the people that have been hiring could take them back at half pay and they’d have to accept that or starve to death. He’s get- ting ’em crazy, too; they sound like a pack o’ wolves—-hear ’em?”’ They did indeed hear them. ‘“‘And he’s backing it up with a great line of argument, boss—begging your par- don. He’s telling them to look at the furniture and the way the place is tricked out, if they want proof; he’s telling them that you never had the price of one of them desks, up to a couple of days ago and . say, boss, I don’t want to scare the lady, but you better beat it.” “Why?” Sibyl asked again. ‘Well, as soon as this party finishes his speech, they’re going to search the floor for Mr. Darton, and they’re likely to hurt anything they staple over and “All right,” Jimmy said, his smile quite gone. “You get this lady out first, Ham- mond, and if I can—” “This lady isn’t . going,” Sibyl an- nounced. ‘Not without you, Jimmy Dar- ton.” J ee, ee “Not one inch!” said the girl he had fancied faithless. “If they kill you, they’ll kill me, too! I will not—” “T’ve got it!”” Thomas Morely exploded. “Get out together, and when you’re out, keep on going—elope!”’ “But we couldn’t—” “Of course you could!” corrected the gifted artist. “Let the captain of the steamer marry you, when you’re outside the three mile limit, if there isn’t a parson on board. Jimmy was just going to mak2 for South America, Miss Dane, and—” “Yes, but that would never do!” Darton objected. “No, I’m going out there and you two sneak Miss Dane out by the side elevator and—”’ “Nobody will sneak Miss Dane any- CORMICLOOOKS (C@