The Argosy, Vol. 90 No. 1 — page 82: what you’re looking at

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

16 THE ARGOSY. that that piece of paper means a good deal to me. Stumble around here and bring it to me or I'll shoot your head off!” ‘“T still have it!” Fan cried out. Ben’s-heart leaped. But before he could speak, Fan rushed on. ‘Mr. Moore’s gun—-”’ ‘Be still!” Ben warned her. It was unendurable that she should try to put him so entirely at the mercy of the other man. that only the uncertainty of his location prevented the intruder from taking a shot at him. ‘He wondered if she would. For things were changed. The man could not have seen him reload his gun. And Ben was sure that he had been shown when Fan extracted the bullets. It was a singular situation. The man at the door spoke with the voice of a master. Ben knew he had the means:to question such an assumption. But Fan had already tried to warn the intruder. She had desisted at Ben’s im- perilous command. But it was a toss-up whether she would keep still. And even if she did. not speak, she was such a past- mistress of means by which she could in- form his assailant. . Ben waited. His gun was lifted, pointed vaguely toward the direction where he had last heard the strange voice. At any moment, Fan’s voice might break the velvet, menacing silence. As moment after moment passed, his heart ac- celerated its beats. Even with every in- stant threatening the change the grim game in which each man thought he had the bet- ter of the other in a fight for life, Ben’s hope grew. With the force of his reason opposing it, his mind kept forming the question. Would she tell? CHAPTER IX. SHOTS IN THE DARK. PAN stood petrified. The two men were watching and waiting for a chance to shoot. Only the black mystery of the star- less night saved them from killing. He waited grimly, thinking. She noticed how breathlessly heavy the air was. She gasped for breath. The hor- ror of the situation weighed on her numb- ingly. Then the paralysis of her mind was suddenly awakened luridly to the reali- zation that the man in the door thought Moore still unarmed. - Moore was ready. She knew that. point his gun. He had every excuse to fire. The individual had shot at him from out- side. He now dared to trespass on Moore’s very threshold. Fan tried to cry out. frozen in her throat. Then, another horrible aspect of the situ- ation came to her. If she warned the man at the door, she would be taking from Moore the small advantage he needed. For she knew a master operated the weapon that had shot the little gold ball off the lamp-frame. She took it for granted that the owner of the Big Ben had had neither time nor occasion to perfect himself to equality with his adversary. She stood there, trembling, freezing, burning by turns—waiting. The clock ticked, dominating the silence as if it knew it counted the last precious moments of life for some one. “For God’s sake! screamed wildly. Moore, used to the gloom inside, saw a pale shade fly from the alcove and stop in line with the door. He could interpret her But her voice was don’t shoot!” she action. She was putting herself between him and the man. She was risking her life. Moore interpreted her action. She would be killed herself before she would give him a chance at the man skulking in the dark. The agony of realizing it gripped him like a hard, frigid hand. His heart faltered. Then a dull wonder grew in him. Was he the same Ben Moore who had thought he suffered the crucial torture of life when he was defeated in his political aspirations? What a fool he had been! How little he had known of suffering! , They were right to call him too young for high responsibili- ties. He had not guessed that human hearts could faint and fail and revive to new and greater pain with the passing of instants. oO comicbooks The | slightest sound from the intruder would CO