Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 18, 1925 — page 150: what you’re looking at

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

300 “Book of Etiquette,” and this precious volume had enriched his mind for years. He had nothing else to read. In the silent swamp, infrequently visited by people from the outside world, this book furnished his only food for thought. The flesh of the sage-hen is so heavily flavored with the food it lives on that it cannot be eaten by human beings. Not otherwise, the minds of these two colored people were flavored with their food for thought, the only source of ideas being their book on good manners! Pink Duck and Ledora had made “* heap big talk ” on many a lonely night in their isolated habitation over that volume, encyclopedic in its scope, covering every- thing—weddings, dinners, funerals, enter- tainments, dress, correspondence. No one familiar with the whimsical mind of the negro can realize what fun the two derived from reading what a man should wear at an afternoon dance, how a gentle- man should ask a lady to dance, what is the proper way to hold a knife and fork, how a napkin should be used and a finger- bowl, and what was the correct order of precedence for the wedding march. Their comments upon what they read were rich in humor, and their continual pondering upon the volume had created a mental at- mosphere in which they dwelt and through which they moved in all phases of conduct and human relationship. Thus it happened that Pink Duck, an ignorant, uncouth, poverty-stricken swamp negro jogging along on a sandy road in a hunt for stolen money mumbled comments on good manners into the ears of the sher- iff, to the latter’s bewilderment. “ Tf I ever catch that scoundrel, I’ll teach him how to do,” Flournoy answered, “ In fact, I will put him where he will receive a course of instruction in conduct.” “Dar ain’t no real diffunce, Marse John,” Pink declared, for the sheriff had stepped upon controversial ground over which Pink and Ledora had fought many battles. “Oh, I guess so, but we won’t argue it anyhow,” Flournoy said. ‘“‘ Where do we turn off here?” Pink indicated the place where the ob- ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY; scure trail entered the swamp and the two moved forward single file through eight miles of jungle undergrowth and oozy mud. Finally they stopped beside the moist embers of Pink’s old camp fire. Without hesitation, Pink walked to a certan vine- covered stump and picked up a mud- caked, canvas-covered bundle which now appeared to be surprisingly heavy in his hand. The sheriff had not dismounted. Watch- ing Pink curiously, he glanced down the trail, then suddenly spurred his horse and galloped away. Pink leaped upon the top of the stump to see what was happening. For a while he saw nothing but the sheriff wheeling his horse, leaping over obstructions, tearing madly through the vines and undergrowth as if he were chasing a dodging rabbit. Then the sheriff’s big pistol cracked with startling acuteness and the sound magnified by the stillness of the great woods rever- berated from tree to tree and seemed to carry to the very edge of the great jungle, like the concentric waves of water set in motion by a pebble tossed upon the surface of a calm pool where the waves break at last upon the farthest shores. “I give up!” a voice called sharply. Pink Duck recognized the speaker even before Kitt Starr appeared i in the open with both hands uplifted in surrender. “Dar now!” Pink Duck muttered to himself. “‘ Dat white man didn’t even speak ontil Marse John shot some manners outen his tough hide!” When the two came to the spot where Pink stood beside the dead camp fire, the negro was loud in his approval of the cap- ture. “Good wuck, Marse John,” he ap- plauded. ‘“ Now us kin take him to town an’ learn him manners. I'll git Ledora to read him some words outen my book.” The robber’s blazing eyes rested for a moment on*Pink Duck. If a glance could slay, Pink would now be dead. An oath snarled from Kitt Starr’s throat, and seemed to linger in the air. “ Hush, white folks!” Pink remonstrated mildly. ‘ ’Tain’t good manners to cuss!” THE END “ee, Gomichooks (E@)