Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 124, No. 3 — page 140: what you’re looking at

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

514 line,”’ there ain’t no come-back; you takes it or you leaves rt alone. Slim explains the difference between a dookie, a poke-out, and a set-down. “You see,” says Slim, “ you slams the gate and batters the stoop. Maybe it’s a Jane answers the rap. You does the polite with the lid and pulls your spiel. Maybe she falls, maybe she don’t. If she does fall, and passes out a row of eats wrapped up in a paper you gets what you calls a ‘dookie.’ If she’s a good-natured doll, and you ain’t made her leary of you she may pass out the scoffings on a platter, and you eats it on the porch and calls it a ‘ poke- out. “But if she’s an old lady and has a couple of boys the chances are you gets in- vited in, especially if you’re dolled up a bit. Then you threws the feet under the mahogany and gets a ‘set-down.’ I usually gets set-downs,” says Slim, ‘“‘ being popular with the ladies, and then I has to ask for a dookie for my less-fortunate compan- ions,” he says, pointing at Tommy and me. “Once there was a guy who kept on hating himself like you do,” says Tommy, ‘‘and he died from it. Have a care, you Pennsylvania snow-bird!” he says. _ Before long we hears our rattler giving ‘the yard whistle, so we lines up to glaum her, all of us decking a freezer and riding out on top through the marshes ‘and swamps which stretch out between there and the old Mississipp. It was late when we got into Louisiana, midnight when we pulls into Mexico, and we goes into K. C. on a through string of Pullmans from St. Louis. Them was the good old days in K. C.; the town being wide open and the bulls. ‘having ne great care what you does un- less there’s too much of a squeal made to the higher-ups. But a boob’s a boob, and there’s always ways of making them get the right point of view. Slim and Tommy takes a hand at jack-rolling, it being fair- ly easy pickings and safe as all outdoors, but I never fancies that particular gift and preferring to use other means. We gets a-monicker for our new friend soon after landing. Not knowing if he likes his tea or not, Tommy asks him if he ever drinks anything. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. -= uN “Not if I can get it down any other way,” he says. “I’ve been foolish about my booze for some time,” he says, “ and it’s to hooch I owes the pleasure of trav- eling with you jobbies.” Tommy passes me the eye at that, for it’s in line with how he frames the guy being on the road, and we calls him ‘“‘ Hooch ” after that. One day he asks me where the City Hos- pital is, and will I steer him up there. It seems he had a bad bruise on his head which he gets before joining on with us, and it ain’t a healing up right. The young doc looks him over—and doesn’t do any too much of a job at it—and boils it out with something or other, and-tells Hooch to climb on the wagon for a stretch and give it a chance to get well. Hooch says he will, and does stay sober for three or four days, and the cut heals up pretty good. I don’t think nothing of it at the time, for any guy’s liable to get a bump or two | ence in a while, especially if he’s hitting freights. Finally Tommy says it’s time for us to drill, and we floats up to Omaha and out through Nebraska. Pickings is pretty good, and we don’t have to hustle much to get aleng. Hooch is a big guy, and’ when he looms up in the doorway of a car with a gat in one mitt and his kelly in the other, most everybody gets the rumble and comes across pretty and fine. But Hooch ain’t bugs for the game. He don’t know what fear is, and I’ve seen him take a shiv away from guys who would have gypped him in a minute with half a chance, but he’s always kind of sad about it afterward. | “It ain’t might,” he tells us. ‘“ Those guys works hard for their bundle, and here we comes along and nicks them for the whole roll. It ain’t right, I knows it ain’t right,’’ and then he passes his hand over his head like he was trying to brush something away. oo | Fommy and Slim and me never hooks at it much that way. As I says before, if I don’t get it some one else will. I gets trimmed often enough myself by some wiser gink than I am, and if they can trim me and get away with it it’s my look-out; I should have been more hep to the plant. ecommniclaccalks Colin