Adventure Magazine Cover, October 10, 1921 — page 104: what you’re looking at

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

oe) ch ie Author of “Half-Pint Smith,” ‘‘Hooley’s Hen Hastener,”’ ELL, maybe she’ll work,” con- cluded Mr. Gilfish expectorating with precision at the Dominick hen which habitually stuck its head through the slats of the Maddox House fence each afternoog when he and Colonel T. Sambola Tunk sought their accustomed cane-bottomed chairs to watch the world pass in review on Main Street; “but ain’t folks goin’ to think it a trifle strange, you buyin’ sixty dozen coconuts and shippin’ ’em in Preacher Dick Tuttle’s name to this Oriental Bazaar which ‘he’s gettin’ up for the benefit o’ the heathen?” “Not at all, seh.”” Colonel Tunk gazed benignly upon the Reverend Richard Tuttle, who was cranking his flivver in front of the post-office. “Preacher Dick is enthusiastic, seh. He thanked me with fervor for my efforts in the missionary cause. He plans to exhibit the Oriental souvenirs which he brought back from the scene of his labors, in a booth got up to represent a palm-shaded oasis in the desert wastes. And coconuts fit in admirably with his decorative scheme, seh. He'll sell them “at the conclusion of the evenin’s entertainment, Mr. Gilfish. ” “But sixty dozen coconuts—one each for every man, woman and child in Mississippi City, kunnel!” Mr. Gilfish bent lower to Colonel Tunk’s ear—‘“‘And five dozen of "em plugged and loaded with popskull, 94 THE SIGN OF x THE nig H Charles Tenney etc. goin’ into the First Baptist parsonage! It’s unsafe an’ unconstitutional!’’ ‘“‘Popskull, seh?” inquired Colonel Tunk with asperity. ‘Well, whisky, these days, that gets to Mississippi City is mostly ol’ second-run bumblin’s out o’ some white mule still, an’ these hillbilly blockaders ain’t satished with that. They puts in a jigger o’ lye an’ black pepper just to make a man feel his fe ed. d) “This present consignment of whisky, seh, is eight-year-old Bourbon. It was duly inspected by Judge Brandagee and myself in Murphy’s warehouse in N’ Awylins. It was Bat Murphy, himself, a gentleman than which there is no other comparable in fer- tility of resource, who suggested the coco- — nuts as @ means of safe transportation.”’ “This here Bat is on the level?” inquired Mr. Gilfish eagerly. ‘“These ,here coconuts guaranteed to hold a pint each, more or less—did you plug ’em, kunnel?”’ “We did, seh. We plugged ’em one evenin’ with joy and thanksgivin’. We plugged ’em until I had to take a taxi back to my hotel. liquor a certain suggestion of the Orient, of adventure and intrigue harking back to the days of Haroun al Raschid. A Jjigger or two, seh, and the true believer can see the fronded palms of the islands of romance liftin’ above seas of eternal summer.” DOOLK Coconut meat, seh, lends to © C@