Trooper Tales — page 83: what you’re looking at

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

The Wooing of Benito. 75 in the eyes of a big cavalryman. Before leaving the shack Silk Redmond spoke these words in Spanish: “Look pleasant, and do as I say, and we'll manage about the senorita. Meet me half way up the trail to- morrow attwo. Fasten a grin on your face now, even if it is painful, and go to sleep. I’ll do the rest, and don’t let that bag of money go kicking around any old trail. Keep close to that and the grin, and I’ll make you the man of that shack up there where Marie and her old woman live.” A half-hour later the tall trooper had stolen past the guard and crawled into his bunk. Then he lighted a very black pipe and began to think of young men and maid- ens, light and dark. And back in the college town one of the young lady students tore up a letter addressed to a big soldier, because the last page had wet spots upon it. For six afternoons Redmond met the Porto Rican and stood over him while the latter choked down great quan- tities of manhood in the form of army rations. “Get outside of those beans, they’ll make a man of you. Assimilate that hunk of sow-belly, it'll sparkle in your blood.” These remarks dropped out with puffs from a very black pipe. On the sixth day Redmond brought with him a cake of “government bouquet” and a clean shirt. Then he administered unto Benito a thorough scrubbing down in the Corizel, and finally groomed him up nicely in the shirt of army blue. Puffing meanwhile, the tall trooper sur- COMmieooolks (CO)