Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 160: what you’re looking at

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

950 As soon as Bowling came in he pushed the button for me. “This kid may be all right after all,” he said to me, handin’ over the telegram that was on his desk. SoUTHERN Motor CoMPANY, _New Orleans, La.: If O'Malley sells as many automobiles as he did gas meters you'll have to dig new oil wells to feed them. Excetsior Gas CoMPANY. “Pretty stuff,” I said, handing back the telegram. ‘Now call up that garage he worked for and if it’s O. K. put him on and give him a little schooling,” Bowling told me. O’Malley gave me the address and I called up the garage, and got the man’s spiel. “I can’t tell you much about O’Malley. He only worked here for three days, though he’s a good mechanic all right and I’m sorry to lose him. I guess he’s a little bit off like all the good me- chanics I ever had. Last night he heard me tell somebody that I wanted to sell my garage for a thousand dollars and that I wanted to move to the country with my family. Well, this morning he come in and asked for his pay and a thirty day option on the garage. I gave him twenty five dollars for a half a week’s pay and the option. I figure he’s trying to sell the option because when he came to work he told me he needed a job as he only had five dollars in the whole world.” There wasn’t much I could school O’Malley in but the contract, and he said he had heard all about that from different salesmen that came into the garage. Being a mechanic, he knew as much as I did about flivvers. He was just rarin’ to get out and sell. “Thirty days is just enough time to sell those thirty cars and I better be startin’ out after that thousand dollars,” he said, kind of impatient as I explained to him to try to get a deposit if he could when he sold a car. “Is that all you’re gonna give me?” he asked as I handed him three contract blanks. ‘ You may as well give me the thirty right now and I won’t have to bother you again. I’m gonna need 7em.”’ ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. “All right” I said, giving them to him, “and good luck to you, old man.” “Thanks ” he said and out he shot. Til. Ir nothing else, he had the boys worried. They piled in ahead of time that afternoon. “How did the new man do?” they all asked. ‘““Hasn’t come in yet,” I kept answerin’ them. ‘“* He’s working all right,” Ferdinand, the long legged Frenchman, said, referring to O’Malley, “I ran across him in Marks Cohn’s trying to get to see old man Marks. Tl hand it to him for trying. He sure picked a hard boiled to start on.” ‘Working, he is,” put in Joey Hirsch. ‘““T saw him in Abel’s shoe store.” ‘““A fine place that is to try and sell a car,” came back Foster, one of the oldest salesmen on the job. “I once went in there trying to sell Abel a car and he sold me a pair of shoes before I left.” “Veh,” I said, doubtin’ that any of ’em really saw him, “I guess the rest of you would ’a’ seen him, too, if he happened to stumble into a moving picture show for the afternoon.” 3 Finally O’Malley came in, hands in his pockets, hat on the side of his head. “ Any luck?” I asked. ‘* Selling these things is a tough job,” he answered, and before he could say another word the Anvil Chorus started. “ Ahem, ahem,” went the Frenchman. “So say we all of us,” interjected Joey Hirsch, | ““You ain’t discovered nothing new,” added Foster, ‘“‘ And the further you go the tougher it gets,” Ferdinand came back for another soak. “That'll be all,” I put in. ‘Some of you fellows have been here for five years and you also came in empty handed to- day.” “Well, I didn’t,” O’Malley spoke up again, pulling his hands out of his pockets and a contract with it. ‘‘ Yeh, it’s a tough job all right, but I sold one anyway. And if only I’d ’a’ worked in that garage the rest EOMmilcloookxs CO