Argosy All-Story Weekly, January 13, 1923 — page 166: what you’re looking at

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

ny ‘igi Finks 7, By L. PATRICK GREENE whom he lived, called him NWyorka the Snake; and yet there was little about Smithers, physically, to warrant the name. But the dark children of Darker Africa sense more than the physical aspects of a man—especially a white man: He was lying prone upon a ledge of rock overlooking the river’s ford, squinting blear- ily along the barrel of his rifle. He squeezed the trigger; a report broke the heavy still- ness and a bottle standing on a ledge of rock in the middle of the river—a hundred yards away—smashed into tiny fragments. “Good enough,” he grunted, pronounc- ing the words as one unfamiliar with the language. “I’ve got the range now—an’ Hampton’s bigger than that bottle.” He reached back into the hip pocket of ‘his ragged and filth besmeared trousers, ex- tracted a bottle of Cape gin and drank greedily. _ “ That’s good,” he said again. ‘‘ Hamp- ton’s bigger than a quart bottle the— He’s going to get another partner, is he? Going T= people of M’Lefe’s kraal, with 628 to get some one else to run the store for him, is he?” The sentence came from his lips in spas- modic jerks. He seemed to have difficulty in forming the words; mouthing them to himself befcre repeating them aloud. And concentrated hate was in his voice. ‘He means to throw me out on my bdleed- in’ uppers,” he continued, “ just because I take a drink now and again, an’ keep a nig- ger wench or two. That ain’t his business, the blasted prig. Called me a white kaffr, he did; said I’d gone black and that the natives had no respect for me; said I couldn’t be trusted to trade with ’em. The —fool! I know ’em better than any one— I’m one of them; I—” He stopped abruptly and clumsily—the children of the kraal called him Umelubu, the Pig, the Fat One—trose to his feet. The maidens from the kraal filed past him on their way to get water for the evening meal. He watched them for a while with lust-filled eyes, then stooping with a grunt he picked up his rifle and thrust his way A COPMICLOOOKS (C@)