The Argosy, Vol. 83 No. 1 — page 52: what you’re looking at

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

be i, CE ee I ti sm “et Ry Oe: Piwer Chew Aas 42 THE ARGOSY, With the sudden glare of light came an- other shattering of glass, and they saw a man hurl a chair through the tall casement window, stripping it of both sash and panes, and leap after it into the darkness of the garden. At the same instant Delroy whipped a revolver from the pocket of his overcoat, flew to the window and fired three shots after the fugitive. Jerry Hampton saw Eugenia in the door- way, white-faced and swaying on the verge of a swoon, and he caught her in his arms as she fell forward. “Miss Delroy has fainted, ” he said hoarsely to the father, as the latter turned away from the wibsIOW. Jerry’s own face was well-nigh as white as the girl’s, but from a cause remote from terror. Harry, the chauffeur, darted in from the porch, wild-eyed, begging to be told what had happened. “Ton’t stand there gawking, you fool!” roared Delroy, purple with rage. ‘The ~ house has been raided, and two men have got away. Why aren’t you chasing them? Why haven’t you got a policeman? Where were you all the time, anyway?” Harry darted out again, and Delroy controlled himself long enough to run for a glass of water for the girl. Jerry placed her gently on a couch in the hall = she revived quickly. Delroy was back in the library investi- gating the burglary. “Did he get anything?” Jerry inquired, with a peculiar lack of spirit, as he and Eugenia stepped again to the door. “Tt wasn’t his fault if he didn’t!” snapped the man of the house. ‘He evi- dently had all the tools of his trade and used them.” The two young people drew nearer to the desk behind which Delroy was stoop- ing, and Jerry saw, with widening eyes, a small safe with its door blasted off, and a litter of rugs and blankets that had been wrapped about it to muffle the explosion. Delroy jerked a small drawer from one of the compartments of the safe, and sev- eral packets of bank notes fell from it to the carpet. “He didn’t have time to get the money!” exclaimed Eugenia joyously. Her father lifted a portion of the in- terior framework from its place and re- vealed a hidden compartment at the rear. He thrust his hand into a deep metal tray, groped excitedly for an instant, then sprang erect and reeled drunkenly against the desk. “Good God!” he cried harshly, and as he attempted to speak again his lips quiv- ered and he mumbled incoherently. He clapped a hand to his breast, stag- gered, and Jerry caught him and lowered him into the arm-chair by the desk. “It’s his heart!” wailed Eugenia; “he can’t stand such excitement,” and she ran out of the room. By the time Hampton had torn open the man’s collar and neck-band she was back again with a flask of brandy, and Jerry poured some of it between his lips, while the girl hurried back to the hall to telephone for a physician. Steps sounded outside and two persons entered the hall. “Who is there?” Jerry called sharply. “T’ve been and brought a cop, as I was told,’ responded the chauffeur, and came into the room, followed by a booted and spurred patrolman of the mounted corps. The stimulation restored Delroy to con- sciousness, but he could only sit in his chair and answer the eager questions of the policeman dully, in a guttural, queru- lous tone. With the help of Hampton and Eugenia, the policeman gathered a more or less con- nected account of the affair, from the en- counter with the man in the doorway to the dramatic escape of the second intruder. “You think that no money was taken?” -gaid the officer, as he jotted down notes in his book. Delroy shook his head wearily. “Papers,” he muttered; “papers, that’s all,” and showed no great desire to add to the information. “Now, if you saw the man, Mr. Del- a conniclooolks (C@)