Argosy, Vol. 112, No. 2 — page 163: what you’re looking at

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

THE RACE OF with pointed ends hung from overhead tracks. Long rows of pillars supported the roof, and the solar lights blazing from the storage-tanks rivaled day in this subway world. At the further end the excavation closed into a steel tube forty feet in diameter; the distant end, apparently the size of a dollar, marked the direction of the Tube Line the projectors had kept secret so long. Heavy steel flanges projecting from the sides of the tube formed safety tracks for the cylindrical cars, and heavy magnets from fenced enclosures furnished power to switch from track to track. ‘“ Wha—what is it all?” Grim stammered. “Oh, come on!” Dillon laughed. ‘“ You haven’t begun to see things yet. Keep clear of that magnet draft. The power’s on. Our job is over here,” indicating a long, sharp- nosed car, already in the guides. “ And there seems to be something on.” A group of officials surrounded Dillon as he approached, and a hurried consultation ensued. Grim scarcely noticed them. He was staring about, wondering, amazed. A pecu- liar tremor gradually drew his attention: a tremor that increased its vibrations and seemed to become a part of a whining, hum- ming sound. Away down at the western end where the tube seemed but a section of a three-foot smoke-stack, something was moving. At first the tube itself seemed telescoping back upon them, then out of the tremor and hum flashed something long and pointed that rapidly took the form of a cylindrical car charging toward them at a comet’s speed, its lights shearing ahead in whitened beams. Out of the tube it flashed, supported by the guides, and hummed quiv- ering to a rest a hundred yards away. “Aw!” snorted Grim, rubbing his eyes. ‘““T’m jist seein’ things!” ‘Eastbound arrived,” Dillon mentioned at his elbow. ‘“‘ Come on, we’ve got to spruce up for a fast run.” Grim stumbled after him into the lever- room of the long car, and glanced at the magnets. ‘Same as you cut your teeth on in the power-house,” Dillon grinned. “ Gages, too; receivers, informers, everything the THE GIANTS. 329 same. Begin to see what Clark had in mind, eh? Keen fellow, that Clark. We’re in for a big job, Dungeon. ‘Listen! The Blue Dome Aerial Com- pany and the White Cloud Company have had mail contracts for four years. Their time runs out next month, and the Postal Department folks want to know how much transit time they gain by using the Tube route. See?” “Not much. like a race.” ‘That’s it,’ Dillon gritted. ‘“ It’s a race. The two air companies start two of their fastest cloud-busters the minute we slide out of here. They relay four times. We’ve got to stick it out all the way through. Get amove on. Have to adjust everything. Set the gages and test the needles; move that informer over under the record and brush up those dials. We don’t want to look twice when this old steel-backed snail gets to a sliding down her shell-case.”’ Grim’s finger tapped Dillon’s shoulder and their glances met. “Whar ’d yo’ mean when yo’ said: ‘Stick it through ’?” he asked. “Frisco!” Dillon — barked. Coast!” ‘Frisco!”? Grim remembered a tough in New Orleans who spoke of Frisco. It seemed the other side of the earth to him, and he eyed his chief in doubt. “This is a fairly long hole.” Dillon grinned. ‘“‘ See over there where she draws down to a mouse-hole? That’s the way she looks for about three thousand miles.” “ Underground?” ‘ All the way. Just a few chasms bridged. Watch that gage on the air-tanks, both pumps working now. Dungeon, it’s a big thing to run a car and be sort of a partner in this bully old soldier slide. That test of yours did it.” Grim didn’t answer. He was staring down the tube to the diminutive hole in the distance. “Hell!” he blurted. ‘“ What a burrow!” “We start in ten minutes,”’ Dillon said. “How long will we be goin’?”’ ‘Wait and see. Time to hurry now. Connect those crisis lights to the drums and test them out.” : Reckon mebbe it sounds “ Pacific Gomichbooks com —, - _