Argosy All-Story Weekly, March 15, 1924 — page 22: what you’re looking at

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

650 “Thank. you,” he said dryly, as he re- turned the card case to his pocket. “ You couldn’t provide me with my wallet, by any chance?” He patted his coat pockets, “And my cigarette case?” “ Sure,” grinned Maddox. thing.” added a cigarette holder and a silver pen- cil for good measure, and, with the great- est good humor, followed his chieftain into the living room. Corvan turned before the fireplace, and with his lenient: smile fixed a pair of uncompromising gray eyes upon the youth. “ Your style, Maddox, is admirable,” he said. “I suppose you can stack the paste- boards and throw a mean pair of dice into the bargain?” | Maddox took a pair of dice out of his waistcoat pocket and sidled up to the gate- legged table. ‘A cold seven,” he remarked flippantly, and threw the dice, rattling, upon the pol- ished surface. They turned up one and five. “Tf you got designs on the natives,” he pointed out, ‘ come to poppa.” But Corvan’s cold eyes had not moved from the young man’s countenance; his smile had not relaxed. ; “And why are you known as ‘Snake? ?” he asked. | | “Slippery,” admitted Maddox. ‘“ That’s me. Always wriggle out of trouble like a dead oyster off a greasy fork. Watch me work.” He had picked up the dice from the table, and with twinkling fingers slipped them into a tiny pigskin case. ‘“ Now you see it, now you don’t,” he an- nounced gravely, and the little case disap- peared from his hand with the illusion of _ smoke dissipated by a wind. “You get them from under the carpet,” he explained, and, bending over to lift the corner oi the rug, he kicked the little leath- er case from underneath it. All this Cor- van watched with unabating smile and un- compromising eyes. - “ Slick,” he said. “ For a man with such talents as yours, this holiday of ours should prove a complete retirement.” Snake Maddox winked. ‘Watch me,” he predicted. ‘‘ Just watch ye. You could work the old shell game “Any little lage where they’re just waitin’ for me. Just -itchin’ to see my lay-out. ' for them?” He produced the desired articles, ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY, here, and sell gold bricks on the side. For a man like me, there’s such easy pickin’s among these natives that it “Il be a shame to take *em.” “Oh?” volunteered Corvan. ‘Sure. There’s a poolroom in the vil. Do I perform He paused to tilt his head on one side and regard Corvan with an alert and birdlike mischievousness. “TI per- form,” he announced with decision. Corvan remained unmoved. ~“ But not for them,” he pointed out. “ How’s that?” For the first time Snake Maddox seemed conscious that all was not cordiality in Corvan’s smile. “It’s for me and Wade that you're play- ing this little game, Maddox,” said Corvan. “As far as wriggling out of trouble goes, T’ve no doubt you do it admirably, but yowre not going to have a chance to show us here. You’re not going to wriggle worth acent. Because there's not going to be any trouble!” Having delivered this sentiment with no other emphasis than: an almost indiscern- ible deepening of his voice, Corvan contin- ued to fix Maddox with his lenient smile. “Do you understand me?” he asked. It was among the Snake’s peculiar tal- ents that he never flew off the handle. He now regarded Corvan seriously, but with- out malice, and tried to measure the situa- tion with his glance. ‘“ How’s that?” he probed. “J like your style, Maddox,” explained Corvan. the best introduction to a man who is wise to the general lay is not through his pock- ets. When you used me as exhibit A in your little demonstration, you gave me— no doubt unknowingly-—the impression that as a roommate you could run a close heat for blood-suckers, Game Lizzie. “Your .conversation and performances since then, however, have convinced me that that first impression was due to.an excess Of zeal. But don’t let your enthusi- asm. carry you too far. We don’t know each other yet, but I’m all prepared to chum and the original Badger comicoool< “ But youll no doubt admit that - my affections with tarantulas,.