Adventure Magazine Cover, December 18, 1919 — page 140: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

5 ON TI i? 126 office, so we went over and borrowed his dictionary. It said that a carnival was a time of riotous excess. “My gosh! We've bought.a riot, Ike!” exclaims Magpie. “Not me,” says I. “Don’t blame me. I’ve had a riot wished upon me.” We didn’t get paralysis of the eyelids looking at our purchase. If the dog and pony show was small, the carnival was the sharp end of nothing whittled to a point. There’s three small tents badly in need of canvas to hide the bare poles. "idee of ’em has a sign proclaiming it to e— SONG BIRDS FROM THE SUNNY SOUTH 7 Inside is a platform and some benches. “Them birdies has gone south, Mag- pie,” says I. The next tent proclaims to be the abode of — THE PEARL OF- EGYPT, “FHE POETESS OF MUSCULAR MO- TION, DIRECT FROM THE SULTAN’S HAREM It’s as empty as a last year’s coyote den and smells like a muskrat burrow. At the next tent we meets the last sur- vivor. It sets there gnawing on a hunk of bread and don’t pay much attention to us. I never seen such outright hair on any human being. His head looks the same from front and back, and all he’s got on is the collar and sleeve of a dirty shirt and a skirt of swamp-grass. The words. “water” and “bath” sure was a dead language to that zombre. “Just about who in are your” asks Magpie. The feller looks up at us, masticates a few times and then points at a ig sign on the tent. BOSCO THE WILD MAN. HE EKATS ’EM ALIVE “Run out of snakes?’ I asks and he nods. “Where's the rest of the layout ?” asks Magpie. Bosco stuffs the rest of the bread in his face and swallers hard. “Well, the boss. said he was going home ; the niggers said they was going back to making beds in Pullman cars, : feller. Adventure and I heard that the Pearl of Egypt left here with a sheep-herder.” “You the sole survivor?” I asks and he nods. “Yep! Know where I can get a job?” “Job!” snorts Magpie. “I bought you, Cost me eighty dollars.” “You got stung,” states Bosco. “I ain’t got a snake left.” “You really a wild man?” I asks. “Well,” says Bosco sad-like, “I ain’t been paid for two weeks, and they left me stranded here without no clothes, so you can draw your own conclusions.” . EVER since the Lord dumped the leavings of the Bad Lands and wrote in the big book, ““They will call this Pipe- rock,” has the old moon looked down upon the like. Into the old cow-town, at five A.M., drags the darndest conglom- eration a human ever conceived. The Simpkins’ Stupendous Shows Combined drifted into Piperock. It was Magpie’s idea. I wanted to take the things the other way, but Magpie wanted to give the old-timers the treat of their lives and Magpie usually has his way. ' Magpie drove the team, which hauled dogs, monkeys, tent-poles and so forth. Then came Bosco on Alcibiades, leading Allah, and behind them cometh Ike Harper driving four calico ponies hitched to a tiger’s cage, inside of which Cleo- patra yowled and complained against al- kali, rheumatism and lack of sleep. We -led our broncs and left ‘em at our own shack as we came past. We pulled around behind the city, un- hitched, unloaded and then laid down on a part of the Pearl of Egypt’s tent and went to sleep. When we wakes up we observes Scenery eis looking over our outfit. “What is this here’ mess and what you fellers aiming to do?” he asks. “This?” asks—Magpie surprized-like. — “This is Simpkins’ Stupendous Shows Combined.” “Yes? What you aiming to do with Te “Show her off in Piperock tomorrow. She’s some attraction, Scenery.” “Belong to you, Magpie?” “Feathers and everything!” “Then,” says Scenery, “‘you better hire somebody to haul it away and bury it.” eomicbook ih Ane : ees ae inet” tae (E(0)