Argosy, Vol. 117, No. 2 — page 80: what you’re looking at

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

230 windows opened from the various rooms. At present the lower floor was dark but in one window of the second story a dim illumination showed. From the looks of things the women must be all right. Now that he was here he was nearly of a mind to call himself a profanity trimmed idiot and go home; then he made up his mind to see the thing through. To- morrow he would make it his business to find out what Tatro and Walker were up to and thus set his mind at rest. Anyway, maybe the Gardners would come and they should be able to take care of themselves. He skirted the roughly laid out grounds once and came back to his starting point. This had taken all of half an haur of care- ful work, for natural caution led him to make his progress noiseless and invisible, and he decided to get some rest. At the foot of a big pine he lay down and wriggled comfortably into the mat of needles. From there he could keep his eye on the lighted window. He resisted the desire to smoke, and smothered a groan. Then he began to nod, and after a time the window bobbed out of sight and his head slipped down upon his crooked arm. The rather faint protest of a bit of tor- tured iron would not have awakened a city man—much less would it have been dis- tinguishable to his ears from the night sounds that were not caused by human beings. But Doggie Bull’s head bobbed up and he knew that creak for the yielding of a lock or bolt, probably on one of the French windows. Doggie crawled forward a dozen yards and waited. The sound was repeated, and this time he was able to locate it. Then he saw a dark show of movement on one of the porches and: that decided him: he went as fast as he dared toward the back of the house. What he had taken in his trip of inspec- tion to be the kitchen door was farthest from the point of entry of the intruders. He would go in there, getup the back stair- way, and reach the room of the girl. He told himself that he did not care a tinker’s darn about anything that belonged to John Gardner—he would protect the girl and let the house take care of itself. Perhaps, THE ARGOSY. he hoped, he could keep her quiet and per- haps the burglars would not offer to molest her. Doggie had no desire to be a hero, or to seek a fight against odds. He found the kitchen door locked, and a window near it half open. He chuckled as he thought of Mose and Turkey pains- takingly breaking in. Then he was over the window ledge into the pantry, in the kitchen, opening doors as softly as he could with speed, and finally in an enclosed stair- way. He reached the top in total darkness, stretched out his hands to locate the wall, and found himself blinking into the glare of a flash-light. ‘Put your arms up straight over your head!’’ commanded the voice of the girl, and the ring in it this time was of tempered steel. ‘I don’t know whether you can see it or not but I’ve got an automatic ~ pistol!” _ Doggie put his hands up and swallowed hard. He had not dreamed of any such possibility as this— and from below he could hear a sound which he felt sure was made by a rusty hinge on the window. In a few seconds it would be too late to do anything. ‘Honest to Ged!” he stammered. ‘‘ Miss they’s two of ’em down-stairs—and I come in to help you!” His eyes had now adjusted themselves in a measure: in the dim area behind the light he saw the shadowed face of the girl, the black outline of a pistol against the white of her hand, and in the background a second white robed figure—a slender form with a cloud of glowing hair and eyes that were big and bright and like those of a scared child. As suddenly as she had held him up the girl apparently made up her mind to be- lieve him. She turned and swung the light along the corridor in which they stood. He saw that it led through to the main stair- way. . ‘““Come!” she whispered: ‘“ Come, Rosine! I can hear them in the library!” They ran to the head of the stairs. The flash-light struck down into the lower: hall and rested upon the forms of Mose Tatro and Turkey Walker. Their feet were set upon the stairs, their faces upturned in COPMNICLOOOKS (EO)