Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 100: what you’re looking at

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

890 for trailing criminals, and being a great help and comfort to Ted Greenaway, con- stable over to Tutt’s Corners. Many’s the time Ted would borrow him ‘of Milt -and put him on the trail of a chicken thief or some such scalawag, and that hog would just put his nose down to the ground and tear along, never losing the scent no more than a reg’lar bloodhound, and every once in a while h’isting up his snout and letting out a noise that made your hair prickle— sort of a cross between a grunt and a bay and louder than either. “Well, sir, Todd borrowed that hog one time to run down a feller that robbed the Woodtick post office, and the hog picked up the trail in fine style and went along great until it ran onto the South Mountain Road, where they were doing some repair work after a washout. Just that day they had scooped out the gutters and rounded up the crown of the road for quite a stretch, and when the hog struck that place he was puzzled—but only for a minute. Then he stuck his snout into the loose soil and picked up the scent on the old roadbed underneath, and went right on ahead throwing up the ground like he was a snow- plow and making an inspiring sight. “J always thought it was a darn shame when Milt had to get rid of that hog on account of the neighbors complaining that they couldn’t stand the way he got to bay- ing, or grunting, at the moon in that ‘hor- tible, blood-curdling voice of his every night. He was a real vallyble and int’resting animal, I always maintained.” Abner’s voice trailed away into nothing- ness and he was at perfect peace. There were a few gentle snickers from the guests and then they, too, lapsed into silence as each searched his mind for bait to which Abner might rise again. Inside the screen doors, however, all was not so serene. Two men in the rear of the dim hallway stirred uneasily. One was Sam Taug, proprietor of the hotel; the other was Tom Gilmore, as yet an unsuccessful suitor for the hand of Salviny Taug. Mr. Taug twiddled his thumbs in front of his vast paunch, sighed until his old easy chair creaked in sympathy, and turned his moon face toward Mr. Gilmore. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. That enterprising young man stood with his elbows on the counter across which the business of the hotel was transacted. “All day long he goes on that way, Tom,” mourned Mr. Taug in a melancholy half tone. ‘ All day long he sits in the sun and tells them fairy tales. I ask you, should I make any money on a man like that—I who hired him to learn the busi- ness? Again I ask you, should I make a profit on a man like that?” “Not a cent, Sam,” replied Mr. Gilmore with conviction—‘‘not a cent—to say nothing of the hole he’s wearing in your top step. And his appetite now, Sam—I bet he can punish the victuals, hey?”’ “Punish ’em, is it, Tom?” inquired Mr. Taug with feeling. ‘Why, I give you my word he can set out there all day in the sun and not even brush the flies off, and then he can stick them long legs of his under my dinner table, and you would think he was training for a prize fight, his motions is that rapid and powerful He’s the heaviest eating boarder I’ve got, Tom.” . “What gets me,” said Mr. Gilmore plaintively, “is what Salviny sees in a good for nothing lazybones like him. It don’t seem right, Sam, her being engaged to him. Salviny’s a right smart girl, Sam—plenty of ginger.” “JT ain’t so sure, Tom,” rejoined Sal- viny’s father slowly, “‘ but what she’s get- ting tired of him. But—you can’t be cer- tain. You can’t never tell about a woman. Anyhow, you see how I’m fixed, Tom. Should I fire the man that’s engaged to my daughter? It wouldn’t look right, you know it, Tom. And to think I gave him the job here so’s he could work into the business if he had any gimp to him! [I ask you, Tom, should a man of my age get taken in like that by a—”’ A door at the rear of the hall opened, and Salviny came briskly through. She was a pretty. girl in a buxom country fash- ion and was determined to be as modern as ridiculously circumscribed opportuni- ties, including a lot of stuffy old small town gossips, would let her. Her hair and skirt were bobbed to an extreme; her lips were redder than even her good health oO ComiclbookSsS.se©