Argosy All-Story Weekly, August 9, 1924 — page 26: what you’re looking at

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

176 and followed him out to where a glistening touring car was waiting. Danny instantly perched with the driver. Jim and I fol- lowed Dual to places in the back. The car got into motion, following the street north. Ten minutes of moderate driving brought us to the camp. A cluster of typical military frame-sheathed build- ings, set down on a sandy flat. A negro guard pacing with rifle over his shoulder eyed us as we entered. But that was all. Apparently our driver knew exactly where he was going and very shortly brought the car to a stand before a frame structure somewhat detached from the rest. | Haddon appeared as the car stopped, coming toward us from a door of the build- ing and Dual spoke to Danny: ‘Wait, amuse yourself till we are ready to return.” Then, as Haddon approached, we all got out and after a word of preliminary greeting, followed him into the house. Two men sat in the room we entered, one slenderly precise in appearance, past middle age, with graying hair and the silver eagles of a colonel on his shoulder; one younger, a trifle heavy set, bronzed by the sun of Arizona, suavely formal in his manner, and wearing a captain’s bars and the twisted snakes of the medical service. Both men rose, and Haddon made the introductions: ‘‘ Colonel Knol — Captain Cleland—Mr. Semi-Dual, Mr. Glace and Mr. Bryce.” ‘Be seated, gentlemen,” Colonel Knoll invited. ‘‘ Haddon has explained in a gen- eral way. Mr. Semi-Dual, I understand that you come from the East?” ‘“‘T have traveled in the East,’’ Dual re- plied. The eyes of the two men met. I felt a grip in my throat. Something had passed between them, I felt—some subtle thing—too slight to impress the average observer, yet potent enough to establish a rapport at once. Colonel Knoll smiled. ‘‘ Ask what you like,” he invited. ‘I shall answer if I am able—and Cleland will tell you all he knows.” ‘“Newton’s record,” Dual began without any circumlocution, “‘ it is good?”’ ‘“ Uniformly until he got mixed up with — closed his eyes. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. these infernal birds,’ Colonel Knoll em- phatically affirmed. ‘“ Until then he was regarded as one of the cleanest cut junior officers of the camp.”’ Dual turned to Captain Cleland. ‘“ This anonymous note you received,” he promp- ted. “ You kept it?” “‘ Naturally.” Cleland smiled. He pro- duced a folder from a pocket of his blouse, extracted the communication and handed it across. It was merely a scrap of paper, bearing a penciled scrawl: ‘‘ Watch Newton an’ his homers if you want to find out about where these hop heads are getting their dope.” But Semi, after he had read it, sat hold- ing it in his fingers, leaned back and briefly The act recalled the arti- cles concerning the Austrian, about whom there have been so many accounts in the papers of late—who read from bits of hand- writing not only the meaning of the words but the character of the writer—his personal appearance, describing him and at times even the conditions under which he wrote. That was psychometry, as Dual himself had told me, a sensing of the very vibra- tions left upon an object by one who had handled it or used it. And I wondered as I sat there, if perhaps he were gaining some such impression from the bit of paper he held. But if so, he did it quickly. For it was only a moment before his eyes again were open. ‘Quite so,” he said and gave it back. “You yourself identified the drug?” ‘“T did, sir,” Cleland declared. ‘“‘ Haddon tells me he told you the stuff was in a packet, but in reality it was packed into what appeared like a good-sized turkey quill, hollowed out and filled. There is no mis- take about the identity of the drug.” Dual shifted his interrogations abruptly. “Was it known to you that Newton and Miss Rand were in love?” “Yes,” said Colonel Knoll sharply. ‘That is, we knew he was going over to Rand’s place every time he got a chance.” For a time, Dual made no comment, and then he again addressed Cleland. ‘“ As to the note, captain, you have no real know- ledge of its source?” ‘Not unless it was sent by some of the 1A COMmiclboo (”) SS (CO