Page 16 - Adventure Magazine, 1921, July 18th

IO Advcntur

It was not often be thought of, home; but in on that · recent train. He was garbed
this night the long explanation to Crybaby witi1 the calculated forethought of the true
and now this m eting with his old hobo- blown-in-the-glass- black overalls, necker-
master had fill d his mind with memories. chief and cap. The cap this man wore was
In the r d leaping flames of the fire he a large affair turne d inside out, the yellow
could se the little ottage learl . silk lining xposed.
It was sweet where he was born. When- He carried under one arm a roll of cloth-
ever he thought of it, it was lhe same- ing, the "bin dle," tied compactly with a
always as it bad been in the morning when bit of hay-rope . He was hardly a head
the air was crystal and the marg uerites near taller than the Frisco Kid; he stood about
the picket fence had no dust on their white- five feet eight or nine; but the Kid, watch-
ness. ing him from behind, noted the suppre ssed
It was up in Grass Valley. Before the violence of hip-swagger and arm-swing that
damp had got him his father had been a told of hidden strength, of vigorous and
workman in the mines. His mother always brisk nerves and muscles acting together in
gave setdowns to hoboes. Year after year perfect coordinat ion.
she did that . All the hoboes knew the Th e Kid turned to Red with surprize.
white-face d little woman . Th ere was naught about this newcomer to
"rhe lady in the shawl," they called her. cause alarm ; he looked merely the sturdy
Always she sked them, in return for her blown-in-the-gla ss. Red, he found, had
kindness, to look for her baby who was out shifted his position. He sat with his back
there among all those lost boys and men. squared to the road-kids' fire, his body
For him every night she kept a lamp hunched forward and head sunk on chest.
light ed- an oil lamp in the window. That It was much as if he were striving to conceal
was his room. A hundred road-kids had himself from the view of the newcomer; at
slept for a night within the pink-papered least, by thus huddling, to render recogni-
little cubby. They had told him. tion more difficult.
But the Kid did not go back. He felt In a mjxture of feelings, not the least of
he never could go back. He knew that which was an inordinate curiosity, the
when the train shrilled high up on the side Frisco Kid moved rapidly across the shad-
of the valley and the sounds dropped down, owy interval between the two camps. He
he would go as he had gone before. He . noticed, as he drew near under the flame-
- never could stay on. burnished willow branches, that the faces of
An urge was in him. That urge ha~ the boys had all gone blank and dismayed.
drawn him out of the arms of his graying The road-kids were huddled together, ex-
mother when he was twelve, and after a changing whispers in great seriousness and
circus train that had dipped into the little stealth. The Frisco Kid sat down beside
valley to extract its tribute of quarters and Portugee.
the irretrievable tribute of boys. That CHAPTER III
miserable urge kept him moving- moving
to find peace. It was the accursed Wander- STRONG-ARM
,.
lust. T HE late-comer wasted no time in greet-
~ LOW whine rose from the Gay- ing the road-kids or the other three
A
R Cat and the boy shivered out of hoboes; nor did he stride directly to the
his dream. Some change in Frisco kerosene can to help himself to the re-
Red had frightened the dog, for he had mainder of the stew. His brutal, unfin-
retreat ed behind the boy's legs. ished-looking gash of mouth was el as with
The Kid looked at the tramp. The fellow a grim purpose.
was .sitting up rigidly, his lirtlc eyes wide, He cast the bundl of lothing upon the
a startled light in their red-tinged depths. ground within th ircle about the fire.
Red was staring as if at something behind Then rapidly, with lrong tubby fingers, he
the Kid. began to unbutton the black overalls .worn
The Frisco Kid turned round. Another over trousers and coat.
hobo had entered the jungle, was moving He was a peculiar and rememb rabl -
with sharp certitude of stride toward the looking man. Hi face was not so swarth
oad-kids' fire. He also must have come as muddy -hued. His no was short, th