Argosy All-Story Weekly — "The Purple Limited" — page 192: what you’re looking at

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

158 until his hands touched another door. He pushed this open and entered what had been the living-room of long ago. The odor of stale tobacco smoke there rather startled him, and he paused. He felt that there was some one in the room. Instinc- tively he moved away from the door and backed against the wall. He opened his mouth to speak, but his throat was dry and he was trembling so that he dared not risk his voice.. He stood quiet, listening. - He could hear the irregular creaking of the stairs, and once ‘the faint rustle of a wet rain-coat or a dress. He tried to speak, but all he said was: “ Here,” in a hollow, trembling voice. There was no an- swer. Something pattered hurriedly across the floor; there was a sudden stirring of a newspaper as though ‘some one had been redding in the darkness and had been dis- turbed; a-soft object plumped to the floor close beside him and an angry squeak caused him to jump out into the middle of . the room. With fingérs that shook he struck a match and held it above his head. - He had fergotten the police now. In the quick flare he saw a rude box-table against the wall, and scattered over the floor were scraps of newspaper and hundreds of cigar- ette butts. The match went ‘out, leaying him in deeper darkness than before. He searched his pockets fearfully. He found only ninety cents, a scented handkerchief, . some cigar bands, a knife, and a pencil. He turned to the table, sprawling on it. The day had tired him. Things were becoming worse. Last night he had had his hat for a pillow and clean straw for a -bed. To-night he had but the hard -boards of the table. Once or twice he was startled from his first sleep by the nameless noises of the house, and when he opened his eyes he was frightened by the dancing moon-shadows on the floor. At midnight Hagan thought that he had been awakened, and then when he awoke he believed that. he still dreamed. The light at the window was bright now, and steady. He lay still, watching it. Sud- denly he became aware of voices near him —the voices of two men speaking in guarded undertone. ~ ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. He wondered sleepily if that were the -way ghosts talked. He half arose, and gazed all around the room. There was nothing but the patch of soft moonlight on the floor. He lay back, and the hum of the voices lulled him into a half sleep. Suddenly he felt a clammy hand brush across his face. He jumped into a sitting position on the table, and sat there blink- ing into the darkness. Then from some- where in the outside world he heard the low chug of a motor. At first he thought it was a car passing on the highway; then it seemed to be standing nearer, in the grove perhaps. He started to get down to investigate when he was startled by the glow of an electric light through a large crack in the floor just below where he sat. He gazed _ down at this strange light like a skipper who sees an uncharted island far at sea. Then he located the low voices, too, as coming from under the floor. Hagan, thoroughly awake now, slipped noiselessly from the table and crouched on the floor above the crack. The bright light nearly blinded him at first, but what he saw made him gasp; and the saliva dripped from the corners of his mouth. He sat back and wiped his lips on his coat sleeve. He slapped his cheek gently to assure him- — self that he was awake, then bent down to look again. . Thousands of dollars! Crisp new bills in neat bank-packs, and all squeezed neatly into a long, tin bex. Hagan counted the packs. There weretwenty, and each one was marked in blue stencil: $1,000. ““God! What a haul!” gasped Hagan. He saw the grimy hands of a man appear above the box, carrying two more packs of bills. Hagan noted now that the box was setting across a well prepared hole in the ground, and that the hole, too, was lined with new tin that glistened in the light. “Can’t get these in, Bill,” a low voice spoke. ~ | “Might need it, anyway,” answered another voice. ‘ Let’s shake a leg with the box. You knowethey’re on our trail.” “Yeh.” The speaker drawled, but Hagan saw his hands begin to work more quickly. He passed one pack to his part- (CCOYNMHC 6)(0)©) KS (CO)