Adventure Magazine Cover, October 30, 1924 — page 91: what you’re looking at

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

something’s Doing in Mexico you for your services,’’ Uncle Dudley an- nounced with a bow in the direction of the resplendent uniform. At the same time Uncle Dudley did some rapid finger gymnastics impossible to de- scribe and intelligible only to Sam Tupper. Suffice it to say that he was thus advised to charge fifty dollars and promptly accepted the advice. Sam Tupper spent a malodorous day ex- amining and counting hides in the little warehouse adjoining the office of his chief. He knocked off work an hour or so early and adjourned to his home for food, but mainly for untainted air and a little nap, to fortify him for the night’s activities. Promptly at eleven o’clock five large automobile trucks surrounded the box car described in the bill of lading as a container of rock salt. The drivers, ably assisted by Sam Tupper, transferred cases of car- tridges and the larger boxes containing two machine guns. Several persons saw the work in progress but gave it not a second thought. There was nothing unusual in Santa Maria about the selection of a moon- light night for such heavy labor. It was cooler. Moreover the trucks might be ur- gently needed during the day for some other form of work on the ranch. General Juan Jesus Cassiano, concealed in the box car, checked the cases as they were removed and Uncle Dudley checked the general’s checking. They exuded polite- ness with every syllable, but nothing was overlooked by either. In short, that car of rock salt was inspected grain by grain. Diplomatic relations trembled on the brink for a few seconds when Uncle Dudley suggested that the cash be delivered into his hands before the automobiles started toward the river. Simply as a matter of etiquette General Cassiano thought the correct procedure was for the cash to be delivered just as soon as the cartridges, or rock salt, had been laid down on the Mexican side. It is difficult for an outsider to pass judgment upon the niceties of this situation or to judge the arguments of either party so they may as well be omitted. Uncle Dudley played his trump card when he declined to give the order for the trucks to proceed. General Cassiano there- upon bowed gracefully to the inevitable and produced the cash which was also checked with meticulous care. SI At this point Sam Tupper was guilty of a social error. He suggested, quite casu- ally, that this was a most appropriate time to pay him fifty dollars for setting up the machine guns. However, the machine guns were not yet assembled. Moreover General Cassiano had brought exactly the required amount of cash to pay for munitions and had none remaining for the employment of experts. It would be necessary, he explained, for Sam to proceed to the camp in order to assemble the guns and there the funds necessary for his payment would be found. This sounded reasonable to Sam so the procession set out. Uncle Dudley was the only member of the party remaining behind. He returned to his office, locked his funds in an ancient mound of cast iron to which he referred as a safe, and repaired to his home. oie tooth powder acts very much like a velvet cushion on a dirt road, so the trucks, going down grade most of the way, made scarcely any noise at all. Under a cover of gray dust completely con- cealing paint they looked more like the ghosts of trucks as they moved silently through the moonlight. One hour later the gallant recruits who gave allegiance to General Juan Jesus Cassiano were busy unloading cases of cartridges while the lordly American truck drivers were the guests of the general and partakers with him of the contents of a bottle of tequila, a form of liquid fire popular south of the Rio Grande. Having discussed the prospects of this revolution, along with the tequila, the five drivers accepted General Cassiano’s in- vitation to watch Sam Tupper assemble a machine gun. Sam was for taking the thing to a dark place where he could show off, but the audience demanded that he re- main near a camp-fire where they could see. His company in France, like many others, had been taught to handle their implements of war by the touch system, so that they could make adjustments or repairs in the trenches without the need of a light. He discovered that he was dealing with two machines of precisely the type he was accustomed to and did not waste time wondering how Uncle Dudley came into possession of them. SIX inches of dust ground as fine as micloool CO inn