Payable to Bearer

By Talbot Mundy

"Payable to Bearer" by Talbot Mundy. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Good Press
• Release date: Nov 9, 2021
• ISBN: 4066338093097

Talbot Mundy

Born in London in 1879, Talbot Mundy (1879-1940) was an American based author popular in the adventure fiction genre. Mundy was a well-traveled man, residing in multiple different countries in his lifetime. After being raised in London, Mundy first moved to British India, where he worked as a reporter. Then, he switched professions, moving to East Africa to become an ivory poacher. Finally, in 1909, Mundy moved to New York, where he began his literary career. First publishing short stories, Mundy became known for writing tales based on places that he traveled. After becoming an American citizen, Mundy joined the Christian science religious movement, which prompted him to move to Jerusalem. There he founded and established the first newspaper in the city to be published primarily in the English language. By the time of his death in 1940, Mundy had rose to fame as a best-selling author, and left behind a prolific legacy that influenced the work of many other notable writers.

Book preview

Talbot Mundy

Payable to Bearer

Published by Good Press, 2022

[e-mail]

EAN 4066338093097

Table of Contents

CHAPTER I. — Ikey And His Trade

CHAPTER II. — Which Introduces Woman Number One

CHAPTER III. — Ha, Ha! Woman Number Two! The Plot Thickens!

CHAPTER IV. — Enter The Hero! The Plot Gets Thicker Still

CHAPTER V. — In Which Ikey Makes A Killing, And Enjoys Himself

CHAPTER VI. — In Which Ikey’s Streak Of Luck Begins To Hold Out Symptoms Of Getting. Thin

CHAPTER VII. — Across The Continent

CHAPTER VIII. — Which Enlightens Lizzie Wingfield And Certain Others

CHAPTER IX. — Which Is Short, And Treats Of Ikey

THE END

CHAPTER I. —

Ikey And His Trade

Table of Contents

IF you bring a woman into a story you spoil the story, and in all probability libel the woman; everybody knows that. But there are two women in this story, so get ready; they always have crept in, and they always will — and we have to make the best of it. In this instance, though, the first person to creep in was Ikey Hole.

The police in particular, but almost everybody who knew him at all intimately, called him Keyhole Ikey, so that by the time that he crept into the story he was laboring under an extra syllable as well as a kit of scientifically constructed tools distributed about his person. It was a second story that he crept into — through a bedroom window.

Ikey started in business at the early age of sixteen as a porch-climber, and by the time he was twenty he had become a past grand-master of his profession; but since by that time porches had grown a little out of fashion in New York he began to make a specialty of fire-escapes, and from that time on he throve amazingly, as everybody does who is sufficiently far-sighted to move with the times.

He was a very careful man, was Ikey. He considered every little detail, just like the big interests do; but, unlike them, he was contriving to salt away quite a snug little fortune without running the risk of being muckraked.

He agreed with the big interests in detesting publicity, but he differed from them again, in having nothing whatever to do with gentlemen’s agreements. Ikey had no pals; he always worked alone.

He closed the window carefully behind him, leaving just sufficient space open at the bottom to enable him to insert his fingers should he have need to open it again in a hurry; then he pulled down the blind.

That left him in pitch-darkness, but not for long, for he produced an electric torch from his sleeve and pressed the button; that gave him just sufficient light to examine the door by.

The door proved to be unlocked, and the key was on the outside; so he opened it very gently, removed the key, and locked it on the inside.

Now, economy was one of Ikey’s strong points, and burning that electric torch of his cost him good money; so he extinguished it and replaced it up his sleeve.

Then he switched on the electric light that was hanging in the middle of the room; it was a sixteen candlepower tungsten lamp, and, besides being a whole lot better to work by, the use of it cost him nothing.

The sudden flood of light revealed his figure full length in the pier-glass that stood facing him in one corner of the room, and he nearly jumped out of his skin with fright.

Gee, he muttered with a low chuckle; I’m gettin’ nervous! Have to cut out corfee and cigarettes for a while!

Coffee and cigarettes were Ikey’s chief solace in his hours of ease; but there was the making of a hero in Ikey, and he decided to give them both up on the instant, and with as little compunction as he would have felt in refusing an offer of employment; he knew what suited him, did Ikey, and he never broke