Argosy All-Story Weekly, October 25, 1924 — page 23: what you’re looking at

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

VALOR. appeared so light of limb, so serene of coun- tenance, so vaguely imbued with a fair beauty of face and form, a delicacy of com- plexion anda radiance of clear intelligence as this boy did. Aleck looked upon David with the eye of the range, but unlike the men of the range, he could not contemn the boy for the alien charm he found in him. ‘When Parmelee spoke his voice had the startling quality of the growl of a beast. “You do what yo’re told,” he rumbled. “There ain’t nothin’ more for me to say,” said David. “I said ‘ no.’” With a sudden gesture Parmelee swooped down and lifting the puppy by the scruff of its neck, flung it into Aleck’s arms. “ Aleck,” he rasped, ‘‘ you take that pup out an’ do what I said. Better—Go an’ git the shears an’ trim it orf out here. I want David should see it.” Aleck stood with the puppy in his hands and looked from father to son. David had the aspect of being balanced on his toes, although his feet were firmly on the ground. “It’s my pup, Aleck,” he remarked. Parmelee reached out and took the ani- mal himself. “Go git them shears,” he commanded, and Aleck went out through the house. A brief silence followed him. “T’m goin’ to show you how a man treats a dawg,” said Parmelee grimly. “ You got to learn, David.” He settled in the chair with the puppy on his lap. David, still seeming to reach upward from his feet, stood balanced in that man- ‘ner and gazed at his father silently. There was something indescribably baffling in his unruffled, unwavering gaze. “Why don’t you answer me!” Parme- lee’s voice vibrated with repressed emotion. “T can’t think of anything else to say,” admitted David. Parmelee sneered bitterly. “ VY’ can’t think of anything a man would think of,” he said. ‘“ You can’t think of the sight you are standin’ there an’ whinin’ like a woman about a puppy’s bein’ trimmed. You got no shame!” He blurted out the last words in an excess of disgust. “That puppy is natural,” David said. “ Like he was wade to be. There’s no sense torturing him.’ ’ <_ 13 “Torture! Arhh!” Old Man_ Parmelee turned to Aleck who at that moment en- tered. ‘‘ Here!” he held out the wretched puppy. “ Trim him down!” Aleck held the shears in one hand, and, taking the puppy in the other, turned to David. ‘Just pull over that table, Dave,” he said. David stood motionless. “That’s my pup, Aleck,” he said quietly. **{ don’t want you should touch a hair on his body.” “Shut up yo’re talkin’!” ordered the old man. “ You heard what I said, Aleck. Do it fairst.” Aleck, still holding the pup and _ the shears saw now that he must make a mo- mentous decision. He turned from David to his father. He was about to appeal the case, but David decided it for him. “I said ‘ no,’ ” he repeated abruptly, and suddenly stepping forward, he snatched the shears from Aleck’s hand. Then, with an amazing demonstration of cool control, he flung them with great deliberation and per- fect aim into the covered well, the roof of which, some twenty yards away, offered only a narrow aperture to his markmanship. The three of them heard the shears drop into the water and they heard the tinkle of the spray which followed. “There'll be iron in that water, now,” said David. And then he turned upon his father with his eyes seeming to crackle with the fire that they held. ‘I said ‘no’!” he cried. “ It’s my pup, an’ I’ve got the decision! I said‘ no!’ And you wouldn’t listen. Now I say it again. My pup ain’t goin’ to be cut or maimed or trimmed.” He stood silent then, but did not seem defiant. It was as if he had set forth an incontrovertible fact, and expected it to be believed implicitly. His father looked at him with implacable resentment and disgust. “ David,” he said, with the rasp in his voice, “ yo’re a plumb loco young fool.” Then his voice suddenly arose. ‘‘ What’s more,” he cried harshly, ‘‘ yo’re yellow as a coyote. Yo’re my son! My son, by God, an’ yo’re afraid.”’ GOmiGchbooks (C@