Argosy, Vol. 117, No. 2 — page 165: what you’re looking at

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

JERRY THE SPIRITED. Jensen swallowed hard and wiped sweat from his forehead. His eyes roved from side to side, “T ain’t got nothin’ to say,” he said. “ What do you want of me?”’ “Turn around.” Jensen obeyed. His eyes still roved. He hoped a chance to escape would present itself. He thought he would be calmer in a few minutes. The sudden appearance of this “ dead man ” had unnerved him. ‘“ March along to the car,” Jerry ordered. Again Jensen had to obey. When they reached the car, Dayton looked at Jensen. ‘Well, you took him alive, did you, Jerry?” Dayton said. “ And you had ail the chance in the world to make a sieve of him. Oh, me, another good man gone soft.” “T took him alive,” Jerry said simply. “He can have his chance before a jury for all of me. But I wish you’d turn him over to one of your men and have him taken out of my sight. I wish to God I never had to lock at his face again.” Dayton placed one of his men on guard over Jensen. Then a window in the pay-car was thrown up. The face of the paymaster appeared, and he shoved his arm outside. His hand held a gun that shone in the light from the car. “Throw up your hands, ycu fellows,’ he cried. Dayton chuckled. “Gosh,” he whispered, “‘ look at the way ol’ sideburns would foil a gang of robbers. Wouldn’t he be a shinin’ mark for us if we was hold-up men?” He raised his voice, and, in a tone which held all due deference, he said to the pay- master: “ Don’t you shoct me, Mr. Clay- ton. If you do, this here railroad will lose one of its best conductors. It’s me, Jim Dayton. You got my wages in that car some place, and I don’t want you to kill me till I have a chance to spend the money. ‘* Jerry Donovan and some of the rest of the boys are with me. We’ve just put the kibosh on a bunch of gents that wanted to steal my salary along with the salaries of a few other old and young rails.’ “Tf you don’t believe what I’m tellin’ you, you can get dressed and come out and ) 315 investigate. But don’t come out in that night-shirt you got on. It’s mighty cold and snowy for a man with bare laigs.” ‘You’ve got them all, Dayton?” Clayton asked. ‘All but one,” Dayton answered, ‘“ and by the time you get dressed he'll be so far away you'll never catch him.” The paymaster withdrew his head, and Dayton turned to Jerry. ‘“What’s the program now, Jerry?” he asked. ‘Somebody better look at those fellows in Jensen’s bunch,” Jerry said. ‘“‘ They'll be stirrin’ before long. Pat and I will bring up the fellow Jensen shot.” The dead robber lay on the tracks, and Jerry and Pat picked him up and carried him back to the pay-car. “They put him down in the light, and Jerry looked at his face. He was the leader of the three. His face was like marble still, but white marble now, as cold as ice.- They then brought up the man who had been killed first and placed him beside his former leader. Clayton had dressed by now, and he and his assistant and the porter came out of the car. “Well, Donovan,” Clayton said, “ you’ve had quite a busy evening, haven’t you? I heard you were fired. How did you get in on this thing?” ‘“T was fired,” Jerry said. “ Dayton and me happened to learn about this matter.” “Jerry learned about it,” Dayton cor- rected. ‘ He let us in, knowin’ that things was pretty dull and we would enjoy an evening out. ‘“ Now, I tell you what you do, Mr. Clay- ton. You go into your palatial private car and make out a report on this here business. Take me in with you and let me give you the details. Jerry would be too modest to tell them to you straight. Then you let me take the report and file it at the first station we hit. I want to see that the boss knows what’s what. The next time they get a young pencil-pusher for a superin- tendent of telegraph maybe he’ll look over his men before he fires the best he’s got.” ‘Oh, all right,’’ Clayton said. He led Dayton into the car. The men in Jensen’s gang had begun to COmmicloooks (C@