Argosy, Vol. 122, No. 1 — page 90: what you’re looking at

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

\80 might have been easily embittered by this abuse. The policeman might be a dreamer —a poet in embryo, Uncle Dan McKane scoffingly said; but he owned the saving grace of a sense of humor. And he suspected that, afterall, his skip- per was only a bag o’ wind! The old man roared because he knew his own weakness. He was afraid to give the men under him a square deal for fear they might out-argue him. ‘You tell me all about it, you young dog!” he repeated, glaring at the rookie as though his crime was the most heinous in the category of police offences. ‘‘ Or you'll go before the commissioner. JI’ll get the truth out of you if I have to sweat it out. Those fellows down there at headquarters want to know what kind of simps I’ve got up here in this hoosegow, anyway. You want to ruin the good record of the precinct, that’s what you want to do! “You tell me who that woman was, where you went with her, and all about it,” he concluded, at last running down. “And did you shoot your way into that house?” ‘‘T did not ask her name,’ Vale repeated. “Why didn’t you arrest her?” » ‘“‘ She was only a hysterical woman. She didn’t do anything that I judged called for arrest.” | “You judged!” snorted the skipper. ‘Whoever told you that you had any judg- ment, or the right to exercise it? You're a cop, not a magistrate. And you let the woman go! What did she do? How did she get onto the roof of that house?” “ She went up the fire-escape at the back of one of the houses before I could catch her. I followed. I couldn’t very well carry her-down the ladders in my arms. Sol broke in that door and we walked down.” Absolutely the truth—as far as it went. No getting around that. ““ What th—was she crazy?” demanded the skipper aghast. ‘“‘T don’t think she was,” replied the pa- trolman cautiously. “ But what did she climb up there for?” “T didn’t ask her that, either. I guessed she was just hysterical, or something. The fire excited her.” THE ARGOSY. “Well!” snorted the skipper. “ Of all the young asses—what the holy heck do you mean by ‘ thinking’ and ‘ judging,’ and all that?” Vale remained patient under this extend- ed vituperation. Besides, he saw he was going to ‘put it over” as far as Buffalo Griggs was concerned. He was determined in any event to shield Allaine Maywell from publicity. ‘“ What did I tell you before? You rook- ies aren’t supposed to addle what you call your brains by thinking. Do your work and leave your betters to do the thinking. That is what you’re to do. _ “There was that business about the fel- low hanging around the Maywell house the night it was robbed, Officer Vale. I bet he was lookout for the gun who cracked the safe. And you let him get away! And not saying a word about it to me—say! Did you identify that suspect Mr. Andrew May- well put up to you?” ‘No, sir. It wasn’t the party I saw that evening,’ was the mendacious reply. “Huh!” and the old man grew suddenly thoughtful as he eyed the patrolman. “ That’s it, is it? I wondered why Canniff was so sharp on your heels about this,” and he tapped the headquarters report with his hairy finger. “Look here! You take my advice, Offi- cer Vale. Don’t you get into Mr. Andrew Maywell’s bad graces. He’s an influential man—influential in politics. There are a lot of men in this town he can put the screws on. ‘“Humph! I'll see what I can do for you. But I reckon you might just as well make your will and kiss your friends good- by, for I have an idea that it is you for the commissioner’s experience meeting at head- quarters next Tuesday,” and he dismissed the patrolman with a wave of his hand. Without doubt the reason Mr. Andrew Maywell was so anxious to get something on Allan—so Vale decided—-was because of the disappearance of the will which was now so strangely in the policeman’s possession. The latter was convinced from Allan’s man- ner that he had secured and hidden this second will favoring his cousin, in spite of the Jatter’s claim that that particular writ- cComiclbooks.com