Argosy All-Story Weekly, June 13, 1925 — page 12: what you’re looking at

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

484 said brusquely. ‘‘ Amongst my friends an’ foes alike thar’s been some siv’ral killin’s off an’ on—but I hain’t nuver heered tell of no thievin’.” ‘Perhaps then you'll be safe enough when you get into your own hills,” sug- gested Chilton dryly. “‘ And I congratulate you on living in such secure surroundings. But before you cross the Kentucky border you will meet people who aren’t above stealing.” ‘“Not from me. Once I gits that money, I’ll leastways hev hit fer a spell—an’ then ther feller thet man-powers hit loose from me, he’ll come nigh ter earnin’ hit.”” Murrell broke off abruptly, and once more the warning gleam flashed into his eyes. “I hain’t got hit yit, though,” he added. ‘‘ Hev ye got any due reason fer seekin’ ter put me off any longer?” Shelby Chilton laughed and reached for his hat. ‘‘ Come on,” he said brusquely. ‘‘ You’re your own man and the blood of this folly is on your own head.” Murrell nodded briefly. ‘“T’ve done been in thet thar fix afore now. I'll be more satisfied when thet money's in my own saddlebags, too.” Together the two men, one dapper and worldly of appearance, the other an anach- ronism who had stepped out of another age, left the office and walked past the display windows of gift-shops, tea-rooms and drug stores along Haywood Street to a substan- tial bank building in Patton Avenue. The attorney smiled quietly as he ex- plained to the cashier his somewhat unusual wish for so much money in specie and paper. The cashier glanced up, caught a glimpse of the sober faced mountaineer, and an amused grin made its beginnings at the corners of his lips and eyes, the grin of indulgence for the vagaries of a clodhopper. Then, for some reason, as he felt’ those steady eyes piercingly, unhumorously meet- ing his own, the smile died aborning, and he nodded with a discreet politeness. “ T see,” he said, as if such transactions were the rule rather than the exception. ‘Suppose you gentlemen step inside,” and he waved a directing hand toward a small conference room. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY, A few minutes later, having verified the count with painstaking care, and having stowed a small amount of money in his trousers pocket, the man from the “ Kain- tuck Ridges”’ wrapped a piece of news- paper around the sealed envelope which contained the larger balance. This packet he stowed under his arm as he arose. To the lawyer, at the door of the bank, he commented briefly: ““Now I reckon TU bid ye farewell.” Then, as if a sense of social obligation had belatedly asserted itself, he amended: ‘‘ Howsoever hit's nigh noontime, hain’t hit? I’d enjoy ter hev ye eat a snack with me, ef so be ye kin show me a place whar they sells good vittles at. I reckon ye knows this towa better than what I does.” Chilton hesitated, then accepted. This barbarian was a type and to him something of a human enigma. Perhaps now that his money was safe in his pocket, he might be beguiled into conversation, and if he chose to talk there was apt to be rugged drama in his recitals. “How do you travel back home——horse- back?” inquired the lawyer. The two were seated now at a dining table in a hotel not so fashionable as others farther from the center of the town, yet fashionable enough, he fancied, to contain elements of wonderment for a backwoods- man. He had selected the place with a rather malicious delight of anticipation. He wanted to observe the uneasiness of a countryman unacquainted with such an atmosphere of sophistication, and to analyze that country- man’s reactions. Whatever acquaintances saw him there would know he had a client in tow, and would understand. But the man who sat opposite him gave no evidence of either discomfiture or amazement. He sat straight, but not stiff; he looked about him with only a casual and restrained interest, and before he laid his hand on a knife, a fork or a spoon he paused to see how others did these things. His eyes took in the business of manners so quickly that only one watching him closely would have noted any hesitation. A rude but genuine dignity sat upon the fel- low who was in an atmosphere alien to his COIN IGDOo So C@