Argosy All-Story Weekly, October 6, 1923 — page 96: what you’re looking at

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

OES STRUM ALP BN kh See yh ' PASTS gtr i VATS py tl ‘ é i A eto tau. Hall Le oety a Ne i a eet ; “ee f yy A Me Sao vk Or oe ee TD a ee Ae f , W) Wee! al ‘ PAPA ay, } A eeNitey 8 , Yi ; i ity ua 4 Nt Sp VS aie a ’ ( year vt . ‘ bs wx AV fo: Cae DT RTS BGT? Ota Be yy 4A - ‘ “ Witty aby nity Hy ; Reb ath Biv eu, ___end our bizaess,” Jim said. SSS glad because I don’t favor bein’ follered s around by black Affikin head choppers. - Dis is de fust lodge whut has treated me so bad as dat, an’ I gits jim-jams thinkin’ == = it.” | ATTRA QO) ey 4a* Arey tat te , hie A Re. ’ ' Ni i { ‘e \ Lehn BIA Vc RAR DUN As Os HENAN bate Uae Ha W NS ey, Wadest ~-_ bank, going in different directions. __ Golly slipped into a near-by alley to laugh. — He sat down and took off his hat and ____. slapped his bulging thigh with his headgear. = Ze ‘The affair had worked out admirably for == “J now sets aroun’ Tickfall, waitin’ fer as dem lodge clothes whut ain’t never arriv- - a ge ae _ 8 eS eG Pa PF a —— = et Ta nm Se, ey, | ee” — — ee An ee et ee eee — Se ; RR tS i eee a Pe tm. - Se nd ee ee : = — er a - pal - pam a < = ~— a — © = - ue tee envelope, Jim Golly had watched Hitch with acute attention, and he was con- __-Ninced that if Hitch could read at all, it twas with difficulty. So with more confi- = dence than he had felt before, he wrote a = check payable to the “Lodge Regalia Tail- Oring Co.” the check except the name signed to it. Everything was legible about Not even Jim could tell what that was, for = he did not know. Handing the check to Hitch, he pre- as tended to be busy inserting the papers in the envelope, while he watched Hitch from the corner of his eye. Hitch Diamond’s = knowledge of the bank up to that hour had consisted of certain menial tasks, emptying Zz waste paper baskets, cleaning cuspidors, . - sweeping floors and wiping windows. This was his first experience as a patron of the bank. A check did not mean anything to him in his life. he inspected it carefully and handed it ___ back to Jim: He couldn’t read it. But ~ “ Dat’s c’rect,” he said easily. Jim slipped it into the stamped —— licked the flap and sealed it, and handed the etter to Hitch. “You put dis in de post orfice an’ dat ‘ll “ Vs powerful = =e: ain't good comp’ny even to mye f, z “Does I git free now?” Jim inquired, -*“J now releases you from custody,” fitch said laboriously trying to recall the words of the ritual. to come an’ go of yo’ own sweet will ’thout __ de guidunce an’ super-sup-supervision of yo’ ~~ lodge-app’inted gyardeen. _ be straight an’ conshunce be yo’ guide.” “You is now free May yo’ paths _ The two separated at the door of the jim ARGOSY- ALLSTORY WEEKLY, jn’,” he chuckled, as he beat the ground at his feet with his hat. “ Dat letter will git gwine, but *twon’t never find nowhar fer to git, because why, dar ain’t no place like I sont it to!” He took a little round mirror out of his vest pocket and glanced at his reflection with unconcealed admiration. ‘Dat head chopper ain’t never fiddled wid no slick head like me. I don’t aim to ketch it in de neck wid no ax.” IV. CoLoNEL Tom GAITSKILL, president of the Tickfall bank, sat upon his porch in gloomy contemplation of a diminutive and defunct holly tree, his latest failure in a fifteen-year effort to root upon his lawn one of these beautiful but obstinate and disappointing shrubs. “ She’s dead, Marse Tom,” Hitch Dia- mond remarked unsympathetically, as he contemplated the little dry switch. “ ’Tain’t de fust one us is made a miscue wid. I been plantin’ holly trees fer you gwine on a long time—dey’s kinder disencouraging.” “Tl try again,” Gaitskill sighed, as if the little tree was of utmost importance and its failure to grow a tragic event in his career. “ Life is not worth living unless I can make a holly tree grow before I die.” “ Ef you ain’t prankin’, Marse Tom, I’m promisin’ you dat you'll die tryin’,” Hitch chuckled. ‘Dem trees is hard to grow. But, Marse Tom, I done come to ax you a *terrogation: Ts our lodge clothes come yit?” ““‘Your—which?” Gaitskill asked. “ De lodge clothes whut de bank ordered fer us,” Hitch explained. ‘“ Me an’ a nig- ger named Jim Golly gib you de money *bout a week ago an’ I been kinder watchin’ de bank to see wus de clothes piled up in a corner somewhar. It’s a hundred suits an’ dey’ll make a big bundle.” “T don’t know what you are talking: about,” Gaitskill said. “The bank didn’t order any clothes for anybody.” “Naw, suh, de order wus sont by Jim Golly,” Hitch said. | *““ Well, I guess they have come.” Gaits-. kil] suddenly recalled an incident of the day “comicbooks.<o