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Show By Courtney Ilyley Cooper (WNU Service.) Copyright by Courtney Ryley Cooper PRECEDING EVENTS Joe Rarry, country youth In New York, ekes out a living as caretaker in a poor rooming house and accordion player in Louie Bertoli n i'a restaurant. Lured by the open country, he spends a night In the fields, neglecting neg-lecting his duties. Next day Ber-to Ber-to in I d tsehargea him, A frequent fre-quent visitor to Bertolini's offers of-fers him $10,000 to impersonate a "bootlegger" In trouble. It means a penitentiary sentence for Joe. and he hesitates. The man, ".Martin," gives him $1,000 "on account." Next day Joe deposits de-posits JS00 in country banks, giving his name as Joseph Bradley. Brad-ley. A circus attracts him. Outside Out-side a tent he sees an accordion and is tempted to play it. A girl, Sue Dayton, niece of the owner, who admires the music, urges him to take a position with the circus. CHAPTER II Continued 6 The next half-hour was hazy for Joe Barry. He had come out to this small town prepared to sell something that was worthless, his physical freedom. Then suddenly this freedom had become be-come paramount in his desires. Here he had found an opportunity to weld himself to something which thrilled him strangely, an unfettered life which fretted his imagination and tugged a, him with ambitions which until today he had not realized that he possessed. Then Uncle Dan had asked his name and sent a skeleton of futility rattling within his memory. He could not do this I A contract had been made and a cash payment accepted ac-cepted to bind It by which he must go to prison I It was Sue Dayton who brought him to a semblance of composure. They stood now on a street corner and Uncle Un-cle Dan had departed. "Queer, Isn't it, how things turn out?" said the girl. "Uncle Dan and I were just talking yesterday that we simply must do something to buck up the performance. Then you came along and happened to notice that accordion and well, here we are." "Yes, that's right. Isn't it?" Joe Barry forced a laugh. "Here we are!" The girl became more business-like. "Did I understand correctly?" she asked. "You told Uncle Dan you could let him know in a few days?" "Yes." The blur began to close in anew on Joe Barry. "You see, I sort of made arrangements about another job. I'll have to see if I can cancel it." "1 hope so," said the girl frankly. They were merely strolling now. "We'd like to have you with us." "Thanks," said Joe Barry and It was not for Sue Dayton to understand the depths of that gratitude. "You'll know, then, in a few days?" asked the girl. "Yes" it brought everything back "Maybe I can find out tonight. I'm to see the man who's employing me tonight. to-night. There are some things to be settled. I sure hope I can get it fixed up. I'll come right hack if I can.", Joe Barry was wondering how he could explain his change of attitude, how he could arrange for the return of the money he'd spent. It obsessed him; he spoke distractedly; events about him took on a strange form as if scenes from a sketchy drama, or the disconnected sequences of a dream. This was the time of times when he would have desired above all things to be utterly honest. It was galling to realize that with every word he was twisting himself deeper into a morass of deception. Suddenly he straightened, straight-ened, clear-eyed. "1 might as well tell you. Miss Dayton. Day-ton. I'm up against some problems in this thing," came grimly. "A man made me a proposition which he asked me to keep a secret. I've got to keep my word to him." "Certainly." There was a hint of surprise in her tone. "It rather ties me up until I can see him and get my release. But I've been thinking it over. He made me this offer when I needed a job pretty badly. It's only fair to him to keep my part of the agreement until I can tell him I won't go through with it." "Then you've decided?" Sue Dayton Day-ton was plainly pleased. "Oh, that's grand! Someway, I think you were meant for a circus." "I know I was!" Joe Barry laughed boyishly. "I didn't realize it until today. to-day. It's what I've wanted all my life." Events were happier after that. Sue j Dayton did most of t lie talking most-j most-j ly of the show. Then at last, they i walked toward the circus grounds; I twilight was coming, the townspeople. by twos and threes and steadily great-1 great-1 er groups, were beginning to move i toward the Int. They said good-by. Id I genuously. with the hesitant frank j ness of young blond. Then grim : again, lips thin. Joe Barry moved swiftly for the restaurant where he j had left his bundle of old clothing, j and after that to the station, i lie lost track of time in the tur-: tur-: moil of his brain. Martin would come to his tiny room u ten o'clock. Joe would tell him what had happened, honestly, frankly. He'd make his offer of repayment for the money lie had spent nearly seventy-live dollars as he remembered it. Perhaps he could pawn his accordion for part of It he could send the rest from the circus; Dan Dayton had promised him thirty-five a week at the start and more If he lived up to expectations. He'd tell Martin all that, and he'd try to convince him. But if the attorney tried to hold him to his bargain, there was a remedy. An inspiration had told Joe he could go to the police. On the train, Joe Barry breathed deeper with something of relief. Martin Mar-tin wouidn't want that. Suddenly he was glad he had thought of that, for more reasons than his own safety. It had not occurred to him until the necessity of escape arose that he might be taking part In something approaching ap-proaching the criminal. Yes, he was glad he had thought of that, he told himself, as darkness came tind the train rushed through the first of Jersey Jer-sey cities on the way to New York. But It had to be done quickly Joe knew that. He couldn't dilly-dally with Martin, now that he had thought of this new angle. Give him a chance, tell him the new viewpoint that he'd gained and then demand his release. There must be no wait of a few days to think It over. Then came a new fear: what If it had gone too far already? al-ready? He erased that. Nothing had really been arranged yet; he didn't even know the name of the man whose place he was supposed to take, or exactly ex-actly what he had done. Martin had said he would take that matter up after Joe had really made his decision. de-cision. "Well, I've made it 1" the man mumbled. mum-bled. The train seemed to drag after that. The Instant it plunged into the tunnel on the way to the station, Joe was out of his seat in the grimy smoking car and waiting at the door. Thee he was out and running, up the stairs and through the long, maze-like exits toward the street. At last he was standing before the smear-faced old wooden building that was his home. Strangely weak In his knees, he opened the old door and started up the creaking stairway. "Well, where you been this time?" It was a querulous, angry voice from the first landing. "No beds made, no rooms swept out think we're goin' to keep on standin" for this?" Joe Barry snapped a rejoinder and went on. He reached the door of his room, and pawing deep into his pocket for his personal key, sent it into the lock. The door yielded, a faint V of light went Into the room from the gas jet in the hall. Joe Barry halted, his lower jaw loose in surprise. On the floor before him lay something metallic, something which had been pushed under the door. Then he sat on the bed and laughed. It had been a joke! It had been a joke, that's all just somebody playing play-ing a joke on him. They'd slipped up here during the day and returned that pass-key he had given Martin, by slipping it under the door. But as suddenly he sobered. Nobody would give a fellow a thousand dollars for a joke! He looked at the pass-key; suddenly he went to the gas jet and struck a match, Illuminating the room. He searched the floor for a note. There was nothing. He jerked out his cheap watch, suddenly ticking with clocklike resonance. Five minutes to ten. "I won't give him any leeway." Joe had slumped to the bed again, the pass-key still in his right hand. Again he studied it. Why had they slipped that under the door? Just come up here and slipped the thing under the door A minute passed ; Joe confirmed it by looking at his watch. Then he began be-gan to count, one, two, three, four, five he wondered how much a person would have to count before it all made a minute. He remembered how the old photographer back in Waverly used to count for time exposures, one thousand and one, one thousand and two, one thousand and three He started and listened. The stairs creaked. As if some one were moving mov-ing upward. Or maybe it was just some one going down to the street Suddenly he jerked to his feet, as if jolted by electricity. Some one was at the door. Staccato, hollow pounding. pound-ing. Joe Barry moved forward. He swung wide the door. Four men stood there,- well-dressed men. staring quietly at him. One flipped his coat back, and the edge of a shield gleamed in the gaslight. "You're Joe P.arry." he said, more as a statement than as a question. Joe could not answer. Two of the men dodged swiftly behind him. "Fan him for a rod," came the coldly monotonous voice. "Better not take any chances." (TO BE CONTINUED.) |