Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 7, 1925 — page 78: what you’re looking at

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

“ahh | } wt Oy ; MAA LN A Ag Ah tae Wer ; Wi A ay) wy ¥ Oe F a iJ , 4 hie” ‘4 : Hah ; ’ : OT ONT Hy tN aaa Le iL OMe Ait teat } Ny paler? UN A eat aay < : = = ing ae Gucne'= pend ‘was hidden: font -_- you, but not the white men’s. that neither Hogan ‘nor ‘Evans had faith But they stayed with laugh; so it was fiendish. The work would have to stop when the food was gone: ~ Hogan and ‘Evans gorged themselves, no matter how uninviting the provender might. be. They swallowed enormous mouthfuls and counted the increasing wrinkles in the food sacks. You were afraid to limit their food; you were afraid to snap the thread of irresolution that held them to you. You pretended ignorance of their gluttony and_ _ of its purpose; and worked harder, and sank : length giving you less working space, carry Ing. you down into still greater pressure, You found two words that lumped your | whole outfit—animate and inanimate—to- _ gether: two words that answered everything, explained everything: cheap tools. The two words fascinated you; they were with you face was egg : ‘Cheap tools: of all the its grin. He day and night. phrases in the world only that one had a vital meaning. You whispered it when you. ~ lay on your bunk at night covertly studying — your employees; you walked up and down the bank of the creek saying it aloud when - : _ the smothering weight of your hatred had driven you away from them. Cheap: tools: - all history in two syllables. You muttered the words now as you dropped your gad | and signaled to be raised _ = Dariel dragged his leaden shoes toward them. He felt no elation, : no joy. The — world should have been a different, a lighter, - _ gayer world; but. it was not. — to the surface, your aching eardrums warn- ing you that you had been down too long. As you ascended, regulating the valve in your helmet, pausing now and then for the necessary minutes of ad justment to de- creasing pressure, your mind came back into your body, and you were no longer a symbol _ of mankind, but an individual man. Your identity came back with horrible pain. i. You knew _ thought it necessary to tell him he had not. how in your ability to send yellow gold — ____ up from your well. __ you: they lacked the initiative to quit. They _ : stayed, and ate. It should have been ridicu- lous, but there was nothing left in you to _ARGOSY -ALLST ORY WEEKLY. ‘suit. He did ‘not ask whether he had sent up any gold that day; none of the others “How you comin’ down there?” Evans = asked as they filed across the pontoon bridge. ae ‘Ought to get through with this length of casing to-morrow. ‘Better Bet the next 3 one ready.” The next day he sent se. up. _ Grubbing away in his: under-water. hole, his mind apart as usual, he was abruptly = ‘jolted. into awareness by the stopping of _ his air supply. ‘Seconds seemed hours with no air buzzing t through his helmet—then it started again. And immediately the life line tugged twice at his: ae the signal to come up. > : He rose slowly, Weide: one against = = the other, the two most probable causes of ‘more lengths of iron casing; each successive _ ‘ water wheel had got out of order, or the - men had decided to quit. But as soon as this break in the day’s work:. either the he reached the surface he knew that he had sent up gold. - Hogan unscrewed the diving helmet; a wheezing, sweating Hogan whose fat, red ee with: the breath of lapped Dariel on the back with a thick hand and yelled into his face: “We got it, John! We got it! Big, preasy. lumps of it! Le “sqpported the sluice. Soe ‘Evans an the Chinese, shoulder to. shoulder, were stirring ifs contents with their fingers. Evans's weak face was pink and utterly happy, and though Quong’s features told nothing, his overalled legs were quivering as with chill. Tt was. the same world in which — he had fought the creek with ineffectual weapons. He had ‘won—or was. about to win—but = thee was no happiness in it. A savage triumph, a brutal satisfaction, but not hap- _ piness.. For a flashing moment he regretted his loss, felt an emptiness, then regret was = es ESBS was well See ue eS Hocan and Quong removed John Dariel’s — helmet, helped him over the edge of the raft. aid got him out of his heavy rubber tad tenis he creek: happiness went well with their worthlessness. boo cS Eom =€O NOY