Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 124, No. 3 — page 38: what you’re looking at

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

412 laid down a bit of paper that was good for seven hundred and fifty dollars, the chock chee bill of sale of Sei Densu, the picture bride. Then Katimura called. Chu Fan, smiling benignantly, laid down his hand. Tumtum began working loose the two- tight collar of his gray flannel shirt. He swallowed hard a time or two, lifted his feet that seemed like hunks of wood, one after the other, put them back upon the floor. | “Well,” said Tumtum huskily, “I’m called, eh? Well, I got a procession, led by little lady in red.” Katimura’s body jolted forward, and his jaw jarred loose. Hanging over the table, the Jap compared his hand with that of Tumtum. Tumtum had him beaten. Tum- tum had won the chock chee bill of sale of little Sei Densu, and Katimura had not the wherewithal to redeem tt. “ Little lady in red,” repeated Tumtum, pointing to his hand. Katimura had a full house; Tumtum Teller had almost next door to a royal flush, the queen, Jack, ten, nine, and eight of hearts. Tumtum stood to his feet, stretched his arms, picked up the chock chee bill of sale of little Sei Densu, the picture bride. The liner’s whistle bellowed forth hoarse- ly. The bell for half-speed jangled in the engine-room. Tumtum stepped to the promenade deck. Forward, ready to land the moment that the eangplank was run out, Tumtum saw the long, fur-trimmed coat of Lillian Hen- dricks, and the pudgy, dolman enveloped form of the Walrus. | The ship was nosing in cautiously to the Seattle wharf. Tumtum turned, went be- low, followed by Chu Fan and Willie Kati- mura, both of whom had been watching him narrowly. Before the wooden lattice work that sep- arated the little, cubby room allotted to Sei Densu, Tumtum came to a pause. Dimly within the cubby, Tumtum could see the form of the gitl huddled down in a corner. Her head was bent forward upon her bosom, her hands were folded resignedly in her lap. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. Chu Fan, smiling unguently, touched Tumtum upon the arm. ‘* Fifteen hundred dlolla,” said Chu Fan, nodding his head toward the girl in the cubby. “Chu Fan offers fifteen hundred,’ said ‘Fumtum, turning to Katimura. ‘“ You h’ist that, Willie?” Willie Katimura was figuring a wad of bills mn his waistcoat pocket. ‘“ She’s Jap girl,” he said. “I want her. I give seven- teen hundred fifty dollars. : ‘““T pay three hundred now. I get the rest from Nippon Bank, pay you right away.” ‘Seventeen fifty,” said Tumtum half to himself. ‘“.Not so bad. That gives me seven hundred and fifty to go on instead of six. Not so bad. They is sure something in signs. Unlucky in love, lucky at cards. I swear.” Chu Fan again plucked at Tumtum’s sleeve. Chu Fan was going to raise Kati mura’s offer. And Chu Fan had the cash. “ Tiumtlum, I give—” “No use raising, Chu Fan. No. She’s mine, Sei Densu is. Yeah. I aim to keep her. Maybe not like you think though. “Ser Densu hain’t happy’ over her lay- out, I know she hain’t. I seen her face when she come aboard. Got to be one happy soul wind up this vo It can’t be me, seems like. Maybe it can be Sei Densu. Yeah. “ She hain’t for sale, Sei Densu. I aim to take her up Sound, lodge her in with my boarding-house keeper, Mrs. Ferguson. Then little Cherry Blossom can look her hand over leisurelike, figure what she wants to do. When she gets ready to marry, why, she’s going to draw to her own hand. Yeah.” The hovered figure had clasped its face in its hands. The shoulders clad in the ‘flowered obi shook convulsively. “ Don’t you be ’fraid, little Cherry Blos- som,” encouraged Tumtum as he started to open the slatted door. ‘‘ Don’t be afraid. Nothing going to hurt you Come on, now, Cherry.” The figure crouched back against the wall. -Tumtum tured fiercely upon Chu Fan and Willie Katimura. ‘COMicoooks (CO