Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 81: what you’re looking at

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

-_ He tossed his coat en: * eccentric person. chair and then rolled ‘ Peabody watched him with fascinated 1n- terest. As the operation was concluded, the detective let out a CTY of triumph: Ralph Colfax had bared his right arm, and imprinted thereon was the design of an anchor. “You are my prisoner.” shouted Pea- bodv Smith. “I arrest you for trying to defraud the Harrison Insurance Company out of fifty thousand dollars: ” The man turned pale, and all of the life seemed to leave him. He dropped into a chair like a limp rag. Tim Burke had entered the room, and he stood there beside President Williams, awaiting the orders of his chief. But Pea- body did not seem to see either of them. He proceeded to address Ralph Colfax. “You nearly got away with it, but that anchor sealed your doom. I suspected you from the start, but it was hard to make all of the little pieces dovetail. That was be- cause there was so much truth in your fic- tion. It was true that Vernon went to South America, and when you identified him as the victim of the steamboat accident you first conceived the idea of making easy money by fooling the insurance company. You looked so much like your brother that vou had no difficulty in impersonating bim m the examination with the insurance com- on a tinued rhe + But.” protested the F 8, 87-* “He did not,” cred Pe i you who weat on the boat, blankets and well disguised. Ou Cie to your real self in the cabin and then : out and circulated among the passengers © and talked constantly to the captain of your sick brother in his bunk. You did the groaning that night. and you tossed the heavy stone overboard to imitate the body of a man going into the water. Also you lef the evidence of the poor unfortunate in the cabin where it would be found in the morning. It was little Miss Mercedes Run- yon, of Buenos Aires, who spilled the beans when she told me of how Vernon had tat- tooed the heart on his arm. And, of course, the fatal flaw was when you permitted the medical examiner to see that telltale anchor on your own arm.” a ays a9 \e “ Ralph Colfax ought to have known better,” said Peabody Smith to Tim Burke that night: * but men hike him never seem to get wisdom. It always comes too late. Old Josh Billings described his kind when he said that experience was a school where some men learn what fools they have been.” Next Week: “THE CHALKED HAT.” U v u NOVEMBER’S JEWEL HO first comes to this world below With dread November's fog and snow Should prize the topaz’s amber hue— Emblem of friends and lovers true. (elo) boo =