The Argosy, Vol. 84 No. 1 — page 58: what you’re looking at

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

48 Oft-read accounts of the criminal who “leaped on a passing trolley-car and escaped’ whizzed through his brain. - Panting, Dr. Bowen pulled up with a jerk; if any one had ever made a running record for that long block he had broken it—and here was his car! Jogging along just as if Brooklyn had held never a mystery this night, the car permitted him to gaze at its illuminated “Nostrand Avenue” for. a moment, rumbled past and slowed down and then rumbled on again as he swung aboard. A dread suspicion stabbed Dr. Bowen; this conductor would observe that he was fleeing from something. He proffered his dime and looked away. The conductor, who was singing for his own entertain- ment, returned a nickel without so much as a glance at him and sang on—and Dr. Jim relaxed. Where was he going now? He wouldn’t ask just yet, until his breath returned fully and he managed to mop some of the perspiration from his forehead. Or was it the part of wisdom to remain on this car at all? Mr. Harrison, finding him absent, un- doubtedly would turn in a general alarm for his capture, although he had not thought of that until this very minute! The police, seeking the rfatural avenues of escape, might well look on this car and others that had passed about the same time. And an excellent way of masking a trail is by doubling. Dr. Bowen, although he had ridden no more than four or five blocks. for his nickel, swung to the ground and crossed the street, rather breathless still. Another car was coming in the opposite direction. He leaped forward at the risk of his neck and boarded it with- out mishap. So that now, with a dollar and eighty cents, he was headed somewhere else! Dr. Jim, nerves tingling again at the hideous smallness of the amount, felt for his precious wallet—and felt again and then again—arid finally remembered the wrench he had given that side of his coat THE ARGOSY. in felling Harrison and the soft thud that followed! Wallet and dollar together were gone! They were gone, and he owned just eighty cents in the world! Fare!” said the conductor. James Bowen’s icy, trembling fingers managed to clutch his half-dollar, which came first to them. He proffered it and felt for his handkerchief again, for new beads of perspiration were rising on his- brow—cold ones this time, an absent dol- lar’s worth of them! ‘“‘ Hey!” said the conductor. “What?” choked Dr. Jim. ‘“Nothing doing on this half, mister,” said the conductor. “ It’s bad!” & CHAPTER XIX. FUGITIVE. HE was a tall, keen-eyed young fellow, this B. R. T. conductor. There was something inexorable and accusing about him, out there on the platform, as he poked the offending coin at its owner and looked him straight in the eye. “Bad?” gurgled deep in Dr. Bowen’s’ throat. “It was good some time; it’s too much wore now, mister.” “ But I took that half-dollar Se one of your conductors!” Dr. Jim said des- perately. ““T can’t help that, boss. They won’t let me turn in a smooth coin like that. If I was to take this from you, I’d have to make it up out of my own pocket when I turned in my money.” Nor did his sharp eye ever waver. Nervously and without much reason, it occurred to Dr. Bowen that an argument might possibly. wind up with the calling of a policeman; that sort of thing did hap- pen quite frequently with cab-drivers and the like! Mouth open, he drtw a quantity of re- viving oxygen down through his throat— and accepted the coin. Mouth closed again and lips tight with real mental CONMUC S 0)(@Y6) s (E@)