Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 5, 1921 — page 10: what you’re looking at

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

296 “‘ A bit of tobacco, a rather good knife that I’ve got yet, and a belt that some one took a fancy to as being worth half a dollar. “Certainly! Of course!” reiterated the tall man in haste. The quill toothpick was silent. ‘“ A pal of mine, one of the stokers, said he knew of a good place to play in Hono- lulu where there was a square deal,” con- tinued the young man; “so, a night or so after we reached there, we got shore leave and started off. Perhaps you know that part of Honolulu. T don’t. I didn’t see much of it. I know there’s some queer dumps, and queer doings, and the scum of every nationality under the sun to run up against.. And I know it was a queer place my mate steered me into. I[t was faro. The box was run by an old Chinaman who looked as though he were trying to imper- sonate one of his ancestors, he was so old. My mate and I formed the English-speak- ing community. There were a Jap or two, and a couple of pleasant-looking cutthroats who cursed in Spanish, and a Chink lying on a bunk rolling his pill. Oh, ves, the place stunk. Every once in a while the door opened and some other God-forsaken piece of refuse drifted in. By midnight we had a full house of pretty bad stuff. ‘Tt ended in a row, of course. Some fool of a tout come in chaperoning a party of three men, who were out to see the sights; they were passengers, [ found out later, from one of the ships in port. I don’t know what started the rumpus; some private feud, I guess. The first thing I knew one of the Spaniards had a knife out and had jumped for the tout. It was a free-for-all in a minute. I saw the tout go down, and he didn’t look good, and the place suddenly struck me as a mighty un- healthy place to be found in on that ac- count. The stoker and I started to fight our way through the jam to the door. There was a row infernal. I guess you could have heard it a mile away. Anyway, before we could break from the clinches, as it were, the police were fighting their way in just as eagerly as we were fighting our way out. ‘TI didn’t like the sight of that tout ly- ing on the floor, or the thought of what ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. might happen in the police court the next morning if I were one of the crowd to adorn the dock. And things weren’t going very well. The police were streaming in through the doorway. And then I caught sight of something I hadn’t seen before be- cause it had previously been hidden by: a big Chinese screen—one of these iron- shuttered windows they seem so fond of down there. ‘Things weren’t very rosy just at that moment because about the worst hell-cat scramble on record was being made a little worse by some cheerful maniac starting a bit of revolver practice, but I remember that I couldn’t help laughing to save my soul. In the mélée one of: the folding wings of the screen had suddenly doubled up, and, beside the window, I saw hiding be- hind there for dear life, his face pasty- white with terror, a very courageous gen- tleman—one of the rubbernecks who had come in with the tout. He was too scared, IT imagine, even to have the thought of tackling such formidable things as iron shutters enter his head. I yelled to the stoker to get them open, and tried to form a sort of rear guard for him while he did it. ‘Then 1 heard them creak on their hinges, and heard him shout. [I made a dash for it, but I wasn’t quick enough. One of the’ policemen grabbed me, but I wax playing in luck then. I got in a fortunate swing and he went down for the count.. | temember toppling the screen and the man behind it over on the floor as I jumped sidewise for the window: and I] remember a glimpse of his terrorized face, his eyes staring at me, his mouth wide open, as | took a headlong dive over the window sill. The stoker picked me up, and we started on the run. ‘“ The police were scrambling through the window after us. I didn’t need to be told that there wouldn’t be a happy time ahead if [ were caught. Apart from that tout who, though I had nothing to do with it. gave the affair a very serious aspect, I was good for the limit on the statute books for resisting arrest in the first place, and for knocking out an officer in the second. But the stoker knew his way-pbant are tetiethao inn