Page 22 - Adventure Magazine, 1921, July 18th

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16 Adventure _

southward into the gusty night. Strong- this little stunt. Now last an' final orders-
Arm watched them go. He wheeled slowly slope, an' slope sudden!"
round and, looking bet ween the willow The Frisco Kid called to the dog slinking
trunks under the flame-burnished foliage, round the other side of the fire-
scanned carefully the whole jungle. "Here, Gay-Cat!"
The Kid, following his eyes, noted all at Then, the dog at his heels, the bundle of
once that there where the embers showed clothing under one arm, he went through
the former fire of Frisco Red, there was no the trees, up the railroad embankment and
longer a covered wagon and tethered horse northward along the rock-ballasted ties
near by nor any sign of the two poster men. toward Joliet. Behind him, in The Wil-
With a quietness come of fear, the two had lows, Strong-Arm and his prushun, Chick,
harnessed the horse to the wagon and driven were along in possession of the hangout.
away. They had been frightened off by the
appearance in the jungle of Strong- CHAPTER V
Arm.
"Here," said that dread personage to the JOHNNY TINPLATE
Frisco Kid, sure they were alone, his green-
bindle 'o clothes from me prushun, Chick. I T WAS mid-afternoon of the following
ish-blue eyes blazing strangely. "Take thet
day. The April prospect was chill and
Today's the twentieth. Drill through Illi- gray beneath vague curtains of falling rain.
nois an' up to Joliet afore the twenty-fifth. Since that gusty black nocturnal hour in
No stallin', kid; git there by the mornin' o' The Willows, when Strong-Arm had beaten
the twenty-fifth an' be darn sure yuh do! so cruelly the boy Chick, the rain had been
"Give the bindle to the furnace trusty o' threatening. It thrummed down now with
the warden's mansion. The mansion is jist a brooding, cosmic patience.
outside the stir. It looks like the com- There was a brown, dreary road going-
mandin' officer's shack in a military reserva- somewhere through black, empty, rolling
tion-all flower-beds an' shell-walks. fields. As he walked the road the Frisco
"Yuh'll find the furnace trusty down in Kid"s worn shoes squashed with sucking
the basemint, tendin' the fires. Jist give noises and spouted tiny jets at each down-
him the bindle o' ole clothes; he'll know put of his feet.
wot's wot. Youse got yer orders. Now . The boy no longer carried under one
slope!" · arm the bindle of clothing bound with
The Frisco Kid went to the boy and took hay-rope. Instead he wore two of every-
the bundle of clothing from his hands. thing-two coats, two vests> two pairs 0£
The boy rubbed his blank baby eyes; he trousers, each kind of garment super-
seemed altogether stupefied by the turn of imposed over the other. One pocket of the
events. The Frisco Kid was really going to outside coat bulged where within he had
perform the job he so feared! He watched stuffed a green cap.
the Kid, a great admiration in his thunder- That the Frisco Kid should bethink him-
struck eyes. self of the device of wearing both his own
The Frisco Kid came back to the waiting suit and the suit he must bring to the fur-
man, the rope-bound bundle under his arm. nace trusty at Joliet was no stroke of origi-
He looked steadily up at the malign eyes. nal genius. The stunt of wearing two 0£
"Thet furnace trusty must be a pretty everything is an old hobo trick, a traditional
thick friend of yourn." favorite with the confraternity of blown-in--
"Wot's it to yuh!" snarled Strong-Arm. the-glass stiffs. Be ides. the <lay was
He added rancorously: sleeti1>7 chill.
"Wot matters to youse is ter git this The little cur, Gay-Cat, was as wet and
job done, an' done right. By the twenty- wobcgone as the boy. He streamed water
fifth, remember, either deliver the goods er from each wire-like pike of dirt-pasted
take the consekences. Yer asked ycrself in ye11ow hair. At times the dog 1ropped
on this deal so ef youse tri s any phony wearily behind the boy; at other~1mes he
play er falls down on the job, yuh'll hear drew a little ahead to point up a quiYering
from me. I knows youse, Frisco Kid, an' nose to the boy and worriedly qu stion him
J')] look yuh up f yuh acts anyways funny. with pati nt. loving eyes. At n o th
Be.-ides, I ain't th on'y gun interested in tun s the Kid said: