The Argosy, Vol. 84 No. 1 — page 64: what you’re looking at

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

54 THE must have thought I was dead, Jim. He looked at me about three times a second while we were in the same room and— say, excuse me, old man!” Polly said, suddenly contrite. ‘“‘ Are you trying to say something?”’ “You bet I’m trying to say some- thing!”” Dr. Bowen cried. “ Listen!” In the corner of the Whinnys corridor, the cathedral chimes announced the hour of six. The maid who had admitted Dr. - Bowen yesterday, and an ampler lady with her, tiptoed past the office door and down-stairs; and below a tea-kettle rat- tled on a stove and there was the whiring sound of a coffee mill. And Dr. Jim, who had told his story from end to end, was still out of the law’s clutches. Tired, somewhat hoarse, he lolled deep in his chair, sore and ashamed that the recital must have included his own utter failure in life. Polly Whinnys, peculiar soul, seemed to think none the less of him. His gaze, quite full of sympathy and astonishment, remained upon Dr. Jim when at last he reached the end of his tale. “Well, what—what do you think of ’em, for a bunch of crazy crooks!” Dr. Whinnys said, for the fortieth time. But it was an absent-minded observa- tion now. Dr. Whinnys’s best attention was on the personal problem of Dr. Jim Bowen. “What gets me, Jimmy,” he pursued, “is why a smart chap like you ever had to try the hick doctor business! That’s where you slipped, Jim. You knew more about medicine when you were half through college than I do now—but no man can make money in a place where there’s no money to be made.” “Perhaps I wasn’t thinking so much of money in those days,’ Dr. Bowen sighed. “‘ The idea of service—” .““ Ves, the idea of service is good,” Polly said vaguely, ‘“‘ but you can’t pay bills with it. Well, you’re out of it now, anyway, thank Heaven. You're all right now.” ARGOSY. ‘All right?” “Why, of course you’re all right,” Poldhane Whinnys grinned suddenly and steadily at his friend. ‘“ I’m going to give you my practise here!” “ Hey?” gasped Dr. Jim, and _ sheer astonishment jerked the tired frame from its chair. Dr. Whinnys also rose abruptly. ‘“* Now listen, before you begin throw- ing the ‘I can’t accept it’ stuff!” he said sternly. ‘“‘ That’s all blamed nonsense, anyway, but even if it wasn’t, from what — you’ve been telling me, you’ve earned me a good million dollars to-night, Jim. One expert said she might turn out better than two millions, at that! ‘From what you’ve said, if the lunatics had ever caught me, I’d have fallen for the mystery and the pretty girl part, and taken a chance on getting over to Man. hattan in time—and Tyne would have bought the claim! Oh, no! We’re going to live in San Francisco, you know, Jimmy. The lady wants to be near her sister and I'll want to be near the mine. Your job —and you’ve earned every right in the world to it!—is right in this house, giving my patients some real sensible dope when they holler for help!” Dr. James Bowen swallowed twice at the thing in his throat. “Why, Polly!” he said thickly. if I could swing the thing—”’ ‘Well, you don’t suppose I’m going to leave you flat, without any money to start on, do you?” Dr. Whinnys demanded harshly. ‘“ We'll fix that, and you can hang me up for a year’s rent if you like. You won’t, by the way, because when my folks realize they’ve got a real doctor at last, you'll put in twenty hours a day around here, and curse this night for kill- ing you with overwork. ‘““ Now, see here! We’ll have to begin the work of introducing you to a few of them to-day, after we’ve slept a couple of. hours, because I have a million and one things to do before I leave for good. And right now, before anything else, I want to give you a skeleton idea of what—say, VKOOLKS COMEGE Gol