Argosy, Vol. 118, No. 4 — page 84: what you’re looking at

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

554 background of an overweary brain. He dared not even inspect them too closely. He remembered Lutz and Blair. Was that fate on its way to him? Then he glanced at Leilah, and steadied himself with an effort. His part was to guard at any cost, and he must keep steady. Robinson left shortly for his beloved and_ endangered engine works; or so Vanaman and his niece supposed. The old hawk’s errand this time, how- ever, proved to have been quite other than that of yesterday. The doctor had believed himself hardened to amazement and more or less proof against shocks; but the an- nouncement made by Robinson on his re- turn, some hours later, strained his selif- command to the uttermost. On coming in, the old man greeted Leilah with a somewhat preoccupied air, then beckoned Vanaman. “ Want to talk with ye alone, doctor,” he said briefly, and led the way to his study. He seated himself, motioning the doctor to do likewise. . “Now,” he began, ‘“‘ I want to ask ye a very important question. I want ye to think twice, and look yourself mighty close -in the eyes ‘before ye answer it. Are you game? Are ye clean, honest-to-goodness, can’t-be-made-a-quitter-by-nothin’, a sure, dead game?” Vanaman looked rather bored, and his eyes narrowed slightly. “T really couldn’t say,” he drawled. “ You will have to judge that for yourself, Mr. Robinson.” A reluctant grin twitched for an instant at the old man’s mouth. 3 ‘“Jedgin’ by the short experience I’ve had with ye, I should say ye are. But if ye’ve got the least suspicion that, plug down deep enough, a body might find even the faintest shade of yaller, then take old ‘Jesse Robinson’s advice and clear out now, while ye’ve got the chance. For I'll tell ye something, son: Ye think ye’ve been pretty hardly used and badly tried; and so ye hev. But if ye stick now, I warn ‘ye a trial’s on its way to ye beside which what’s passed was child’s play. Jest mere light, amusin’ child’s play! Understand?” THE ARGOSY. The doctor scowled. “Tf you would have the commonplace decency, Mr. Robinson, to be frank with aman who, you admit, has done his utmost blindfolded, that man might possibly not only understand, but be of far greater value to you.” “So? But that’s another thing for me to jedge, and I jedge different. You sus- picion what we’re up against, but in the fool pride of your schooling and book- knowledge ye refuse to believe in it. That’s all right. You ain’t old Jesse Rob- inson, and if ye did know the truth and believed it, I reckon ye’d hunt the nearest hole to hide in and be no more good to me. But this much I[’ll tell ye, and ye can make what ye like of it: ‘What I want I get, and what I get I keep. That’s been my motto always, and I intend to hold by it. But on t’other hand, I ain’t anyways as mean as some folks hold me. I ain’t aiming to see whole cityfuls of people outed in this business. The fight’s between me and im, and I’m willing to let it be so. What ke gets he keeps; and what J get I keep. “If he can take this here box from me fair, all right. But I don’t jest reckon he can, and that’s why he’s raising murder over it trying to skeer me into giving up. To test that—fair—without involving any more of the general damage to property and. life he’s saw fit to work, I’ve done a thing that may or may not skeer ye, jest accordin’ to ‘how much of the truth ye believe and how near ye come to being dead up-and-down game—like me and Leilah.” : _ The old man’s face had lighted with a grim, unholy daring, and his steely eyes glittered as they roved about the room. They came at last to fixed rest on the casket. “We're going to sea, my son,” he an- nounced abruptly. “Me and this here green beauty and you, if ye’ve got the nerve—we’re going to meet the party that wants my property, fair and open. There ain’t nobody nor nothing can bluff nor bully, old Jesse Robinson. I aim to prove that. They’s a first-rate bit of sea-goin’ shipping down at the docks. Her name’s the CO DOO S (CO)