Page 23 - Adventure Magazine, 1921, July 18th

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Children of the Road 17

"Don't take on so over a little rain, Gay- has he some business in Middletown, some
Cat, old hobo; jes' keep a-drillin' a coupla graft what he's pumn' under cover of that
miles more. I didn't think it 'ud take us so bill-postin' ."
long- most of last night an' all of terday; The downpour boomed a melancholy
Portugee said it were on'y a coupla dozen accompaniment to the Kid's sudden and
miles on. But everything will be jake suspicious train of thought. He was
oncet we hit this burg I'm tellin' yer about. starting on, picking careful way between
It's sure to be the nex' burg, Gay-Cat, an' rain-lashed puddles that brimmed the ruts
its monaker's Middletown. of the road when on the sudden he was
"And we won't have to throw our feet all hailed from a window in the whitewashed
over that burg in the rain. No, siree, bo; face of the barn-
we won't even have to toot a ringer or " Come back here, young feller."
batter a back door. 'Cause that's where The oddly official tone of the command
Mis' Heffernan lives, Gay-Cat, old-timer!" disquieted the Frisco Kid. He saw the
A whitewashed barn bulked up through huge door of the barn slide open and two
the vagueness of rain to one side. The men appear. They were adjusting upon
Frisco Kid halted and gave vent to a little ' their heads as they stumbled forth gunny-
whistle of surprize. There was a vividly sacks that had been flattened out and then
colored circus poster on the whitewashed knocked into pointed hoods. It was a pro-
boards. It was the depiction of a family of tection from the rain for both head and
aerial gymnasts, the men in green tights, back.
the women in pink, some hanging by their Often the Kid had seen count,ry-folk
knees from high trapezia, others leaping · wearing sack cowls and often had he
from hand to hand through the air. Over availed himself in wet weather of similar
the top of it was labeled in crimson letters: protection. But of these two men only
one was palpably a countryman. He was
THE SEVEN SCOBOLOFFS a hulking fellow in blue jeans and heavy
Poland's Premier Aces of the Air brogans. He carried a shotgun.
The other man, who walked first and
Beneath the lithograph on a wide strip who hailed the Kid, was garbed in a con-
of paper appeared: flicting assortment of garments. He wore

Bigley's Mammoth Wild Animal Show, brown leather puttees and khaki Army
Two-Ringed Circus and Congregation trousers like an equestrian or motorcyclist,
of Twentieth Century Wonders. and faded cutaway coat, hard-boiled collar
Middletown, Friday, April 22 and black string tie like a Southern colonel.
He clutched in one hand a vicious-looking,
The circus poster, the Kid noticed, was sizable automatiG. Upon the coat sleeve
brilliaqt and glossy with newness. The of that right hand, at the wrist, was a large
rain had not yet torn off hanging segments nickel-plated star which threw dim flashes
and Irish pennants. It could not have been in the rain like a broken piece of mirror.
pasted in place many hours previous to the "The sheriff hisself!"
downpour. The Kid's lips fluttered dryly and his
"Frisco Red!" ejaculated the Kid. "That spine tingled with unreasoned fright. He
stiff headed straight this way as sodn as he swung round to flee. It was a reflex im-
wiggled outer sight of Strong-Arm's gat. pulse altogether m hanical. Subcon-
An' he's beatin' our time, Gay-Cat. I'll sciou ly motivated, almost instinctively, he
jes' bet be hit it up along the road in that felt the de ire to run.
bill-postin' wagon for all his old hoss was The Frisco Kid wa a hobo, an outcast.
worth while we was countin' them ties." H had learned, through many harsh con-
The boy stood in the streaming grayness, tacts and disillusioning bitter experiences,
one thin-wristed hand holding the turned-up to put small faith in the law and justice of
collar of the outer coat tightly about his that world from which, as a hobo, he was
reed-like neck. ca5t out. The appearance of the law in a
"But I wonder why Red's in sech a rush physical gui -e was to him lik the era k of
to git on. I never knowed him to be so the starter's pistol in a rac . It w s th
chipper for work afore. OI course, that signal for him to take to his he l t t
I
ir us will be here tomorror; but I wonder quickly h nee.
i