Argosy, September 1955 — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

22 WILLARD MARSH didn’t look like anything. But according to the card it was full of all kinds of valuable minerals: gold, silver, nickel—even uranium. No wonder they had a uniformed attendant around. Humphrey remembered planning to be a uranium prospector, just before taking up radio announcing, in view of the large government reward connected with it. But who ever would think a rock like this could be so valuable? And they hadn't even dug it up anywhere because the card said: Fallen, Alameda County, 5th March 1922. In sudden excitement Humphrey re- membered the star he and Pearl had found. : He strolled over to the guard nonchalantly. ‘I notice this— er—exhibit says fallen,” he said. “ Is that fallen like a star? ”’ “TI beg your pardon, sir?” “You know, like a star. An astronomy star.”’ “Oh, I catch your drift.” Humphrey noticed that the attendant wasn’t calling him “sir’’ any more. “I suppose you could think of it as resembling a star, if that makes it easier for you. However, it happens to be a meteorite.”’ Come on, stop stalling, Humphrey thought. But he controlled himself to ask, ‘‘ The point is, is it better or worse than a star? ” ‘“ Better or worse than a star,” the man said thoughtfully. At the same time he looked a little nervous. “ In what way do you mean, sir?” ‘For instance, you haven’t got any actual stars on exhibit here?” “No, sir. Not in this museum.” He began edging away from Humphrey. ‘But if you knew where you could get one,” Humphrey called, “I guess it would be worth’a lot more than this old meteorite? ”’ ‘“T’m sure it would be a highly novel exhibit, sir. And now if you'll excuse me?”’ Probably didn’t like the way Humphrey was dressed or something. Put a uniform on some people and right away they get above themselves. On the bus back to town he started thinking how it would be if he and Pearl gave the star to the museum. They could have their names on a plaque as donors. Then he decided that, after all, civic enterprise was one thing and money was another, and if the star was really that valuable, maybe it would be better to take it to a smeltery. It took a lot of thinking out, there were a lot of angles, so Humphrey decided to drop in on Ace; he would know. Besides, he felt like a beer. ‘“How’s things with you, kid? What’ll it be, the usual? ” Ace had already drawn a mug of beer and scraped the head off it, skidding it down the bar to Humphrey. “ You look like you’ve just streck lucky, What is it, love or prosperity? ” comiclooks. cern