Adventure, December 1914 — page 169: what you’re looking at

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

Not Down knew he was crazy about her, and Pitkin knew it, too—trust a man like him to senseit! The result was that one day when Mitchi turned him down pretty sharply and told him to cut out his nagging in the future, he up and accused her of liking Collins bet- ter than she did him. Mitchi rather lost her head for a minute and told him he was a pretty good guesser, though up to that time, as I know now, Tom had never told her a word about how he felt. I guess maybe the girl spoke on impulse, right out of her heart. She’d had a chance to notice big-hearted Tom, all right, the same as he had her, and she was a lot nearer his age and more his sort. Anyway that’s what she said, and Pitkin blew up. He swore that before Tom should have her he’d kill him, and added, if that wasn’t enough he’d kill her. Mitchi told him to stop talking foolish because Tom hadn’t showed any signs of wanting to marry anybody that she knew of; and she certainly wouldn’t marry a man unless he asked her, and not always then. But Pitkin was too crazy mad to have any sense. ‘“‘You want to marry zat peeg, Collins!’’ he sputtered. “You haf say eet—but you s’all not. I swear it. Me you s’all marry an’ no uzzer. Say zat you weel marry me, Mitchi, or I s’all keel zis Collins. I weel keel—keel—even you, Mitchi, my heart— ‘even you!”’ He lifted his hands and, clutching into his mane of black hair, waggled his head around and groaned. At least that’s what the ringmaster, who happened to be passing says he did. The ringmaster jumped in and called him down pretty swift, and he moped off. & ing the day, and Tom heard all about it. That night in the trap- ping-room, while everybody was dressing, he walked over to the Russian right before the whole male end of the show and put it to him straight, to let the girl alone. Of course he didn’t mention Mitchi’s name— Tom wouldn’t—but we all knew what he meant. “Look here, Pitkin,” he began. “I’ve heard a lot of stuff you’ve pulled about bumpin’ me off. Now that’s all right. Any time you want to get busy—why, start. But that ain’t all. I ain’t goin’ to mention OF COURSE the thing leaked dur- on the Bill 167 names, but I’m hep to what’s eatin’ you, my boy, and I want to tell you that maybe that sort of work goes where you come from, but it’s too raw for over here. You want to be careful how you spill any more chat- ter like that while you’re runnin’ with this bunch, bo.” For a minute Pitkin didn’t answer. He stood with his black eyes snapping, breath- ing hard, and a look on him like a dog get- ting ready to jump at your throat, then— “I say w’at I mean, Misser Collins,” he got out between gasps. Tom gave him back stare for stare. “T hope not, Pitkin,” he says rather slow, “because if I hear of your trying any more of this hazing—of these threats—oh, not about me, Pitkin—but on somebody else— Tl break | your neck.”’ Pitkin yelled out in Russian and jumped for him. I was there and saw it. Tom just put out a hand and shoved him back. The boy wasn’t looking for trouble. After a bit we got Pitkin quieted down and the thing blew over for the night; but as it happened later Tom was a bit of a prophet without really meaning to be. When he was dressed for his act, which went on before Mitchi’s, Tom hunted her up, however, and cautioned her to be care- ful of the Russian, and told her, if she found herself needing help, to call on him. Moth- er Boone, our “circus mother,”’ says they talked mighty low for a spell after that, and that Mitchi laughed in a rather embarrassed fashion and ran back into the women’s sec- tion of the tent, while Tom walked off whis- tling in a rather self-satisfied way. After that Mitchi began to spend a lot of time with Collins, and Pitkin got so that he went around muttering and mumbling to himself. I think he really was touched a little. It’s the only way I can explain the thing he planned to do. I noticed, too, that Tom used to watch the Russian every time the act went off after that. The aerial act with which he worked, al- though beginning before the butterfly, stop- ped while the big act was on. Tom’s bar was nearest the tower, perhaps twenty feet away and higher than its top. Well, he’d sit on his trapeze during the interruption and watch every move the Rus- sian made,.and though none of us knew it then, he had planned it all out in case any- thing should happen while the butterfly act was on. MICLOOOK C©