Vincent Starrett

“ And in the index before us, from which we had chosen the name of Robert Hamelin, there appeared no other name but which, with equal justice, might have been selected.
"Tonight, then?" I asked.
"Tonight," replied Flood, soberly. "We have always been prompt. Why do you ask, Stormont?"
Sardis laughed offensively. "Hamelin has a beautiful wife," he sneered.
Flood turned on him in a cold fury.
"There are to be no more such remarks," said the captain, "this evening or any other evening. While I am your leader you will address one another openly and with complete respect. ”

“ As for the cigar—By Heaven, he would smoke it!
With the cynical humor of a defeated man, he touched a match to the weed and watched the smoke curl past its fiery tip.
As he smoked, he mused, knocking the ash from his cigar onto a window-ledge of the tall building that braced his back. High up in the building were the offices of Martin Hoganson. . . who by nightfall would have ceased to exist.
In his pocket there was left just enough to buy something he had thought he would never have occasion to use; something his wife was afraid to have around the house, because of the kids . . . ”

“ For Robert Hamelin knew the object and meaning of our errand; I had seen it in his face when he saw my eyes looking in at him through the window.
Flood's voice replied in crisp authority:
"The Riders do not explain. What they command is that Robert Hamelin. shall come forth. If he does not obey, his house will be entered and burned. If he comes forth like a man, his house and family shall be unmolested." ”

“ Yet she lived and breathed in these surroundings as triumphantly young as when she had left her own civilization to dwell in this bleak district of blood and hate; and if her face were any mirror, her mind and heart were alight with thoughts that never had been mine. Tall she must be, I assumed, and lithe and powerful for a woman ”

“ I repeated my tale to the captain and omitted nothing; I knew that no word of mine could save Hamelin, even if I had wished to save him. But when I had finished, I said: "Captain, you must save her!"
He looked at me queerly. in the darkness; a flash of lightning illumined his hard face and gleamed on his rifle barrel.
"Must?" he asked, and laughed a curious laugh.
Sardis sneered openly.
"You understand my use of the word," I replied. "It is a plea. . . . She loves him!" ”

“ His pale eyes fixed themselves upon a calendar on the rear wall. The calendar had been the gift of a great banking institution; the legend across its top panel read: "Pay All Bills By Check, You Will Spend Less Money This Way Than If You Have The Cash About You." ”

“ I'll bet he's scared stiff! He'll get the coin somewhere. I know these fellas; they can always get coin somewhere, when they have to!"
With this logical and pleasing thought, Martin Hoganson stepped off the curbstone into the street. At the same instant a little puff of wind caught the heap of cigar ash on the window ledge and scattered it. A flake of inconsiderable size blew swiftly toward the street. It lodged in the money lender's eye.
With an oath, Hoganson drew a handkerchief from his pocket and applied it to the smarting member. ”

“ Hoganson," smirked the man Smith, "I wrote a letter . . . I hoped. . ."
"I read it," said Martin Hoganson, "and of all the damn drivel I ever read it was the worst."
The visitor was shocked.
"I hoped. . ."
"Yeah," said Hoganson, with deep scorn, "they all do! And what good does hoping do me? They all hope, and none of 'em pay."
"You mean you won't. . . you can't. . . ?"
"Nothin' doin'!" said Martin Hoganson solidly, "That's flat, Smith! Yuh oughta know better." ”

“ Then he hurled the cigar butt into the street and rapidly walked away.
WHEN Martin Hoganson left the building, an hour later, a husky breeze was blowing. He turned up his collar, muttering suave imprecations. His mind still vaguely dwelt on the deadly whiteness of the man Smith's face.
"Damn him!" said Hoganson, as he moved toward the curb, "he almost threatened me. A fella like that is dangerous; he oughta be in jail. By God, if he knew I didn't dare close him up, he'd make trouble. ”

“ A stream of autos and trucks rolled up the street on one side and down the street on the other. Street cars clanged past; Smith knew that they were carrying busy men on their way to keep business appointments. ”

“ Look here, now: you go out and rustle up the money some place—any place—and bring it in tomorrow. That'll give yuh a day. I don't wanta be hard on yuh. Here, have a smoke on me!"
He extracted a gaudy cigar box from a drawer and extended it across the flat desk.
The man Smith seemed frozen with horror. He resisted an impulse to seize a handful of the costly cigars and hurl them into the face of Martin Hoganson. Then the ghastly humor of the situation struck him; his anger became deadly. He stretched out a hand and transferred one of the cigars from the box to his pocket. ”