Anarchists -- Fiction; Jewel thieves -- Fiction; New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction; Precious stones -- Fiction; Suspense fiction
Karlov dry-washed his hands. “We'll send him one of the samples if we
fail in regard to the girl. You say she arrives daily at the newspaper
office about nine and leaves between five and six?”
“Every day but Sunday.”
“Good news. Two bolts; one or the other will go home.”
About the same time in Cutty's apartment rather an amusing comedy took
place. Professor Ryan, late physical instructor at one of the aviation
camps, stood Hawksley in front of him and ran his hard hands over the
young man's body. Miss Frances stood at one side, her arms folded, her
expression skeptical.
“Nothin' the matter with you, Bo, but the crack on the conk.”
“Right-o!” agreed Hawksley.
“Lemme see your hands. Humph. Soft. Now stand on that threshold. That's
it. Walk t' the' end o' the hall an' back. Step lively.”
“But,” began Miss Frances in protest. This was cruelty.
“I'm the doctor, miss,” interrupted Ryan, crisply. “If he falls down he
goes t' bed, an' you stay. If he makes it, he follows my instructions.”
When Hawksley returned to the starting line the walls rocked, there were
two or three blinding stabs of pain; but he faced this unusual Irishman
with never a hint of the torture. A wild longing to be gone from this
kindly prison--to get away from the thought of the girl.
“All right,” said Ryan. “Now toddle back t' bed.”
“Bed?”
“Yep. Goin' t' give you a rub that'll start all your machinery workin'.”
Docilely Hawksley obeyed. He wasn't going to let them know, but that bed
was going to be tolerably welcome.
“Well!” said Miss Frances. “I don't see how he did it.”
“I do,” said the ex-pugilist. “I told him to. Either he was a false
alarm, or he'd attempt the job even if he fell down. The hull thing
is this: Make a guy wanta get well an' he'll get well. If he's got any
pride, dig it up. Go after 'em. He hasn't lost any blood. No serious
body wound. A crack on the conk. It mighta killed him. It didn't. He
didn't wabble an' fall down. So my dope is right. Drop in in a few days
an' I'll show yuh.”
Miss Frances held out her hand. “You've handled men,” she said, with
reluctant admiration.
“Oh, boy!--millions of 'em, an' each guy different. Believe me! Make 'em
wanta.”
Cutty attended his conferences. He learned immediately that he was
booked to sail the first week in May. His itinerary began at Piraeus,
in Greece, and might end in Vladivostok. But they detained him
in Washington overtime because he was a fount of information the
departments found it necessary to draw upon constantly. The political
and commercial aspects of the polyglot peoples, what they wanted, what
they expected, what they needed; racial enmities. The bugaboo of the
undesirable alien was no longer bothering official heads in Washington.
Stringent immigration laws were in the making. What they wanted to
know was an American's point of view, based upon long and intimate
associations.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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