Adventure, November 1915 — page 133: what you’re looking at

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

The Return of Billy Blain remembered, than the present, and Billy had never had to listen to another man’s bombast. When Mike Connolly had gone, and Ter- ence O’Hanlon drew the two of them inside the door, he found her far less antagonistic to a new idea than he had expected. Of Billy he was always sure; the little fellow _ trusted him, in spite of a hundred and one mistakes made in the old days that Billy always had had to rectify. Mrs. Billy was the brake on progress, as Terence saw things—the skirt who had wheedled Billy from the roped arena in his prime. “Did ye hear? Were ye listenin’? The feller wants a Blennerhasset. Did ye get that? Well, what is it but a Blennerhasset agency that I’ve been offered within the last three days? An agency for Blenner- hassets! Us! O’Hanlon, Blain & Co. Blennerhasset autos, spare parts, tires, and so on, with a big sign, ‘Gasoline,’ painted up above the door. Talk about luck! Why, let’s change the firm’s name to O’Hanlon, Blain & Luck! We're it!” ‘“What is there in it?’ questioned Mrs. Billy. She was a partner in the firm and had a right to speak; she held the check- book and signed her name alone. “T was goin’ to tell ye when ye interrupted me. The car sells for five thousand dollars net. We have to buy the car, but we get twenty-five per cent., which is one-two- | five-o. ‘Twelve hundred an’ fifty dollars and the deal all ready waitin’ for us! Why, we'd be crazy if we let the opportunity go by!’ They talked about it for an hour or two, growing gradually more and more enthusi- astic under the spur of Terence O’Hanlon’s eloquence; and when Connolly turned up again three evenings later, it was Billy who reverted to the subject first. “We’ve taken up an agency for Blenner- hassets,”” he informed Connolly bluntly. “Good. I’m glad to hear it. Now I know where I can come and get acar. It’s my idea a fish should swim in his own river. I’m one o’ those guys that believe in stickin’ to the crowd. Id sooner trust a fightin’ man, ex or not, than any o’ these guys who think a bruiser and a sucker are the same thing. Vll buy a car from you—the price "ud be the same to me wherever I get it. It’s fair treatment I’m after. When’ll you have a car to show?” i “I can have one here in two days’ time,” 131 put in O’Hanlon. ‘A bran’ new one, painted yellow, just as you suggested the other evenin’.” “Good for you!” aad Connolly. “T’ll come along and look it over. Got to go now —see you all the day after tomorrow.” It was rather a strain on the financial resources of the firm to pull out all that ready money all at once, particularly at a moment when money for work done on con- tract seemed particularly “tight.” But the Blennerhasset people stea@dfastly re- fused to let the auto leave their works with- out a check for $3750, and the deal seemed so certain that Mrs. Billy consented in the end and wrote the check. They had the car, all new and huge and*glittering, in the middle of the front of the machine shop when Mike Connolly dropped in again. “Fine!” he vowed. “Splendid: Just the absolute real thing!” And two men and a woman exchanged glances, exulting inwardly and striving hard to keep their feelings secret. There was a ’ shock, though, yet in store for them. Connolly had the money sure enough, but was not to be parted from it gure so easily as they had thought. “Y’see,”’ he explained, “the reason why I like to deal with a feller out of the fight game is that he’s used to doin’ business on the proper lines. He understands reason, and ’ll listen to it. Now, I’m game to post a forfeit—five thousand dollars—and take that car on trial. A month’s trial—that’s fair enough; me responsible for damages; me to pay rent for the car if I turn it in at the end of the time and don’t buy; you to get the five thousand if the car makes good. Money posted with the ’fficial stakeholder at Sweeny’s Colosseum. That a whack?” “No,” said Billy. ‘We have to pay cash, and our terms are cash. We'll make good if the car doesn’t.” But O’Hanlon nudged him, and Mrs. Billy frowned. Connolly held firm to his offer, and Billy gave way in the end. After all, the manufacturers: had guaranteed the car, and Connolly offered to sign a proper agreement; there seemed little risk. So the car changed hands, and presently the afternoon editions of the papers gave Mike Connolly enough front-page adver- tising to console him over and over again for the fines he had to pay in Court. One morning paper even went the length of de- voting a half-column editorial to him, GEomichbooks (EO) at = ‘ i pH ANS PA EET » AHI at. Lee