Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 123, No. 4 — page 119: what you’re looking at

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

PRIDE Of TYSON. Rodriguez reeled back and d caught at the lintel of his door for support. ““God be with us!” he stammered. Tyson bowed his head. “ We are lost,” he said heavily. “But the father—Padre Miguel—why has he not warned us?” “ The padre is an old man.” “‘ True, true!” “* And old men think little.” “ Senor El Oro, that is also true. My old grandfather—but we—what shall we doP?”’ “What can we do?” The Mexican groaned. ‘“ Ave Maria—” ‘What will prayers signify in the ear of the Lord,” warned Tyson solemnly, “‘ when the sight of the dam is ever in his eyes? Do you think that he will: forget the sin of the least of us who have worked upon it?” “* My wife—imy children—” ‘““Ah, Rodriguez, my heart is heavier for you than for myself.” “T shall not lift another sack of ce ment!” “It is well, Rodriguez. It may save you still. Repentance is great in the books of Heaven! Neither shall I labor.” “But my friends—my so many friends —shall I leave them to blunder blindly to hell?” | ‘* Remember, poor Rodriguez, that you have promised. Yet I shall release you so far as this: Those who are dear to you you may warn. All others—” “ The saints have sent you to warn us. I knew—did not I tell Bianca—that you were no common man. The hand of the Lord has put a sign upon your head. Ah, senor, upon my death-bed, I shall remem- ber.” ‘‘ And what work you have done upon the dam, pray that it may be forgiven you, Rodriguez. ae “ This night—”’ “It is well. Adios again, Rodriguez. I feel that there is still hope for us if we can but change our ways.” But Rodriguez gathered him in a mighty embrace against a sweaty bosom, and then rushed into his house, and the sound of his loud voice rattling forth the terrible tid- 8A 625 ‘ings to his wife followed Tyson down the street. When he had gone a little distance he turned at a plaza and looked back upon the. town. The shadow of the great dam rose over it, and Tyson began to laugh, softly, to himself.. He was hailed’in the midst of his laughter and saw before him the little Mexican for whom he had gambled at Ken- nedy’s place. “You are gay, Sefior El Oro?” asked the other, and he grinned in sympathy. “ Yes, it is good to watch the rain!” ‘“‘Gay?” frowned Tyson. “I was laugh- ing, my poor friend, to think what fools we have been. Look back at the dam! casts a shadow over us; it blots out half of Heaven, and in the end it shall blot out our hopes of eternal happiness.”’ rT § Ha?”’ ¢ “T shall tell you,” said Tyson. “ Walk on with me.’ And as they went down the street he began to talk rapidly. Before his tale was five minutes old, the little man was quak- ing; at the end of six, he was a pale-faced, nervous wreck. “San Vicente reward you for warning me,” he stammered. ‘“ Sefor El Oro, twice you have save me. You shower your favors | like the water from the sky. Only one thing I beg. Let me speak with my poor friend, Pedro Juachez. Let me give him the word.” “To him only, then. Adios, sefior.” The other waved a hasty hand and fled” at the full speed of his withered legs. And Tyson grinned after him. The devil was up. In two hours, he knew, every peon in La Blanca would have the tale in his ears, magnified a thousandfold by repetition, Let Garth save himself if he could. He would need all his power now. : In the mean time, he would live no longer like a pig in the squalid sty of Mrs. Irene Casey. Before the stores of the town closed, Tyson visited two shops. One was a Mexican renting office; the other was a furniture shop which, from the need of. providing both well-to-do whites and the Mexicans, contained a really wide variety of stuffs. In this place, Tyson spent most of the evening. It. OLE OOOLK