Argosy All-Story Weekly, May 17, 1924 — page 143: what you’re looking at

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

A STRANGER IN TOWN. Marvin’s reply, however, rather took the sting out of the concrete fact. “‘ Yes. On the basis of what we found, we sent a tele- gram or two, Mr. Harmon. You needn’t worry. You’re in the clear.” He was in the clear. They had searched his room, and telegraphed—to Chicago, of course. That was the way they worked. For a moment the vast activities of the se- cret service reached out in a sort of alluring picture before Eddie’s eyes> Silently— unknown—unsensed, yet ever a moving force, the work of gathering knowledge, of combating criminal impulse and endeavor and action, went on from year to year. Men were watched, checked up. You might think you had never come under the eagle eye of suspicion, and yet—you might be surprised to know how well your character, your probity, or the reverse, waS known. Only, you wouldn’t know it unless the need arose. It was a wonderful system, and if a man were what he should be it would put him in the clear. He pressed Portia’s fingers again—and again the pressure was returned. Still—all at once Eddie couldn’t see the sense of their present destination. “Then why—are we going to the sta- tion?” he demanded. Marvin chuckled. ‘ Because, Mr. Har- mon, it’s a poor rule that won’t work both ways. This thing has all been more or less peculiar—more so to you, I suspect, than to us. We weren’t sure of you this afternoon when we turned you loose; and so, as well as having your room searched, you were watched. Blumefeldt used you this afternoon to throw Jenkins off the trail, and—we used you, Harmon, ourselves.” “ Used?” said Eddie. It wasn’t a very nice sounding word. It held nothing to give a man of his age and experience any sense of satisfaction. It suggested things one did not like to think of. And Portia laughed again. “* Of course. Don’t you see it? They turned you and Murgson and Irak and Welter all loose, so they could watch you, and they did.” “ Exactly,” Marvin agreed. ‘“ You were picked up the moment you left the station, Mr. Harmon, and—er—well followed. And so were the others.” 293 Sudden light stabbed into Eddie’s mind. “Then—then you knew what happened to me,” he began in some excitement. “ That is how you knew where to find the others— how you came to make another raid. But —but—what made you wait so long?” Once more a sense of injury was upon him. Marvin had said he had been used, and—most certainly he had. He had been sandbagged and dragged into a room in the Chinese quarter and held prisoner and al- lowed to lie there unsuccored. And Portia —she had been unfairly treated, too. Marvin tossed his cigar out of the window of the cab before he answered. “ It takes time, Mr. Harmon, to organize such a raid as the last one—one in which every avenue of escape is guarded—so that there isn’t any chance of a bungle such as occurred this afternoon. And it isn’t al- ways best to spring your trap until the quarry is inside it.” As an explanation it struck Eddie as a poor one. He sniffed. ‘“ That’s all very well, Mr. Marvin, but—I notice Blume- feldt did get out of your watertight trap.” “Well, yes,” Marvin admitted. “ But— we got the backer. We got him out into the open, outside the cover he’s been hiding behind for years. Oh, I know you don’t understand the thing, Harmon, but we’re pretty well satisfied with this night’s work. We've got what we were after—and one reason why we’re going to the station now is that you may understand this whole affair a little better. You’ve earned it, and you won’t misuse the information, I be- lieve.” Marvin was satisfied. He had accom- plished what he wished. He had captured Murgson and Irak and Welter and their backer. And—he was the man they had been after. He was the big fish. And if Marvin was satisfied, there wasn’t any rea- son why Eddie shouldn’t be satisfied, so far as he could see. He hadn’t wanted to be mixed up in the thing at all, had been drawn into it wholly outside his purpose or intent. But out of it he had gained the knowledge of the wom- an by his side. He had found the—i/e woman. And that was wonderful indeed— as wonderful as the unplumbed mystery of COMmicloooks (C@