Adventure, February 20, 1922 — page 86: what you’re looking at

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

wT iarws t yey"! ‘ ” 1? \ r TALL St GP TERY) & aby 1 As 4 , fi hy # Ats! “Wu 3 4 Ly A Bal cay td \ ~ “8 -. > -—" > a = ad e . Sot = = “3 I as eo,” So ee = : oa Ad — - Sa . pce es oe am fo ee 8 a three?” 84 ‘Don’t blame us,” says Dirty Shirt. “We ain’t got a danged thing to do with it—not even the ; disposition of our own re-mains after the massacree is over.” “They won’t let us sing,” repeats Tele- scope. “Whatcha know about that?” “Not even sing free,’ admits Chuck, wig- gling his ears realfast. ‘“‘It ain’t reasonable. Why, they won’t have no music a-tall. Bill Thatcher’s orchestra ain’t comin’. Bill said it cost him a new bull fiddle and a drum every time he played here, and he’s savin’ up to buy a slip-horn.”’ “You ought to be glad,” says Dirty Shirt. “You sure ought to, boys.” “It’s a insult to harmony,” says Tele- scope. ‘“We’ve almost got to the point where we can sing “Tentin’ Tonight,’ with 3 variations, and our ‘Sweet Marie’ sure does make the shivers run up your spine. ‘Jay. Bird’ Whittaker says it’s got anything beat he ever heard since he busted the ear tubes of his talkin’ machine.” “What kind of a act does you perform, Dirty?” asks Hen Peck. “I portrays Wisdom,” says Dirty. “'There’s three of us, Hennery, three of a kind against a full house.” “Wisdom,” proclaims Muley, “Wisdom -- consists of more than three things, Dirty. No three men can portray wisdom.” “We're goin’ to give her a try, Muley. Me and Ike and Scenery.” “Wisdom—!” grunts Telescope. ‘You “And Maud S,” adds Dirty, sad-like. “Oh,” says Chuck. “Oh, yeah. Well, mebbe you'll get away with it.” According to all we can find out, Christ- -__ mas is the time of peace on earth and plenty of good-will to everybody. She’s a time when the lion and the lamb lies down to- gether, and the cowpuncher forgets that there is such a thing asa sheep-herder. It’s a time when men’s hearts are filled with love toward their fellermen, and a six- shooter is only a ornament; a time, when you can say, “‘Yoo-hoo” to a horse-thief, without expecting to grab a harp the next minute. “Vea, verily,” as Testament says. It is a time when grown men become like little children. Yeah, that’s a fact—mentally. Piperock ain’t got any too much sense when she’s acting growed up; but right now— huh!” < —— _~ i ~< “ < _ eae. + ee el 5 Seo ee re, eee Adventure f ‘J of disreputable snake-hunters can’t 7 spend their Christmas in Paradise or Curlew; but they don’t. Nope. They THERE ain’t no reason why a lot clutters up Piperock to partake of our good- cheer. Me and Dirty looks over that ag- gregation of incompetents, and the sight drives all wisdom, peace and good will from our hearts. “Big Foot” Forrest, “Cactus” Collins, “Mex” Mason, ‘‘Pole Cat” Perkins, ‘‘Haw”’ Harris, et cettery, running the gamut of undesirable horse-thieves. ‘“‘Hassayampa”’ Harris, who is a uncle of “Haw,” brings his bunch of hard-boiled punchers over from Curlew, and Mike Pelly heads the aggrega- tion of incompetents from Paradise. The Seven A, Triangle, Five Dot, Circle C and the Cross J all cometh to hive up in Piperock and partake of the Christmas cheer, and everything else that might come to pass. They’ve got the Mint Hall deco- rated for the occasion, and so forth. They built the stage out until she’s about twenty feet square, and about five feet high. ; A couple of horse-thieves, who studied art in the penitentiary, painted the scenery. It’s canvas hung at the back of the stage, and they painted it black and put on a lot of white stars. Sticking in the middle of the canvas is kind of a lantern rigging, with a round glass in it and a lamp inside. “That’s the moon,” explains Magpie. “When this is pulled off that will be the only visible light. Save? Desert, yuh understand? We’re goin’ to put some rocks and a bunch of cactus on the stage.” *‘What do we do?”’ squeaks Scenery. ““You will be asleep,”’ explains Testament. “The lamp will be turned low and have a cover over it. Everything will be still. I'll have somebody behind the curtain to take off the cover of the moon, and slowly turn up the lamp. One of you wise men wakes up and sees the dim light. You wakes up the rest of the bunch, and you all stands up, looking at the light. “Then you—Magpie. I reckon we better have the mule layin’ down, hadn’t we? Well, you wakes up the mule, and then you all starts walking slow-like toward the back of the stage, and then we drops the curtain. That’s all there is to it.” ‘We'll have to throw that mule,” opines Wick. “Better hawetie it, too, and let some- body cut the ropes when they’re ready to go. The humps are all ready to be cinched on.” . JOOKS ce | a PS os = oe ~~ * ae a a a4 | ~ ~ Fe “ _". - ee LS