The Knights of Arthur
Illustrated by MARTIN
With one suitcase as his domain, Arthur wasdesperately in need of armed henchmen … forhis keys to a kingdom were typewriter keys!
I
There was three of us—Imean if you count Arthur.We split up to avoid attractingattention. Engdahl justcame in over the big bridge, but Ihad Arthur with me so I had tocome the long way around.
When I registered at the desk,I said I was from Chicago. Youknow how it is. If you say you’refrom Philadelphia, it’s like sayingyou’re from St. Louis orDetroit—I mean nobody lives inPhiladelphia any more. Showshow things change. A couple yearsago, Philadelphia was all thefashion. But not now, and Iwanted to make a good impression.
I even tipped the bellboy ahundred and fifty dollars. I said:“Do me a favor. I’ve got my baggagebooby-trapped—”
“Natch,” he said, only mildlyimpressed by the bill and a half,even less impressed by me.
“I mean really booby-trapped.Not just a burglar alarm. Besidesthe alarm, there’s a little surprise on a short fuse. So what I wantyou to do, if you hear the alarm gooff, is come running. Right?”
“And get my head blown off?”He slammed my bags onto thefloor. “Mister, you can take yourdamn money and—”
“Wait a minute, friend.” I passedover another hundred. “Please?It’s only a shaped charge. It won’thurt anything except anybody whomesses around, see? But I don’twant it to go off. So you comerunning when you hear the alarmand scare him away and—”
“No!” But he was less positive.I gave him two hundred more andhe said grudgingly: “All right. IfI hear it. Say, what’s in there that’sworth all that trouble?”
“Papers,” I lied.
He leered. “Sure.”
“No fooling, it’s just personalstuff. Not worth a penny to anybodybut me, understand? Sodon’t get any ideas—”
He said in an injured tone:“Mister, naturally the staff won’tbother your stuff. What kind of ahotel do you think this is?”
“Of course, of course,” I said.But I knew he was lying, becauseI knew what kind of hotel it was.The staff was there only becausebeing there gave them a chanceto knock down more money thanthey could make any other way.What other kind of hotel wasthere?
Anyway, the way to keep thestaff on my side was by bribery,