The Argosy, Vol. 82, No. 3 — page 152: what you’re looking at

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

526 a fair show. And when he lamped the bus Jud was going to ride he went up into the blue empyrean like agscared biplane. A Tornado racing engine had been put in the frame of Jud’s machine; we all’ rec- ognized it as one that Smith had had in his shop for a couple of years. While it was slow for a racing motor—not in the same classewith a Regal racer—no ordi- nary stock engine would stand a ghost of a chance against it. 3 “You don’t ride that machine, Jud,” said our boss. ‘“Who told you to horn into this, any- way?” retorted Thompkins, blowing a cloud of cheap cigdarette-smoke into Jenks’s face. ‘‘ And let me give you an earful, old top; I am going to ride this machine! That goes! .See?” ‘ According to the signed conditions for the race, you must each ride your own machine,”. Jenks continued, trying not to get mad. ‘ Ole’s riding his, and you’ve got to do the same.” “Who said that wasn’t his motor?” growled Smith, joining the fray. “ There’s no law against me selling Jud that motor, is there? And there’s no law against his taking the stock motor out of the frame and putting this one in its place, is there?” ‘So that’s the way you two crooks have framed it up, eh?” and our boss was pretty hot. ‘‘ And of course there’seno law against his selling it back as soon as the race is over, either!” ‘The crooked work was as plain as a spike in a tire, but there appeared no way to break it up. Of course, that motor was not really Jud’s; but if Smith and he both declared it was, we could do nothing. Possibly Jud had bought it — for about five dollars; it was easily worth thirty times that amount -—but if so, as Jenks said, he would be selling it back right after the race. The Tornado crowd was mighty cocky. They came around, waving money in our faces, hungry for bets, but didn’t scare up any takers. We didn’t see any chances of winning against stacked cards. The odds offered went from two to one up to five, and at last to ten. Conway could stand it no longer. ‘“ Give me twenty-five dollars’ worth of that,” he grunted. ‘ Ole’s a terrible simp, but there’s something here I don’t under- THE ARGOSY. stand, and I'll take a ten to one shot on most anything.” Meanwhile Jenks had been telling Ole in words of one syllable just what that racing Tornado would do to him, but .Ole didn’t seem to be worrying a whole lot. ‘“She’ll make seventy an hour at least, Ole,” Jenks pleaded; but all the Swede did was to bite off a fresh chew of tobacco. And he would not refuse to ride, pro- testing Jud’s machine, as Jenks wanted him to. Yet, when Ole rode around the track for a warming up spin, there was some- thing in the zippy bark of his unmuffled motor that made me prick up my ears. Then I took counsel with my roll and cov- ered a few bets at juicy odds. : Well, the race was just as much a fizzle as the one before, but the other way. There was really nothing to describe about it. The Tornado did its seventy an hour, all right, all right, but that Regal of Ole’s just naturally snorted around at better than seventy-five. They didn’t need to ride the third event, because Ole cleaned up on the first two. And maybe things didn’t blow up some as Ole roared over the finish the second time, that good old motor of his spitting fire like a machine-gun in a trench, Thompkins more than three hundred yards behind. Man, dear, but the fire- works were glorious! We fell on Ole, pounded him on the back, told him what a wonder he was, and a lot more; it was quite different treat- ment than that he had been accustomed to. And it was sure worth a lot of lucre to see how sick that Tornado bunch looked, Thompkins especially. Ole had certainly sent Jud’s chickens home to roost, and there wasn’t any wel- come on the door-mat when they flitted in, either. Then all of a sudden I happened to look closely at Ole’s motor, and a great light dawned. It looked like his motor, but then again it didn’t. The cylinder-heads seemed to have grown some, but the engine itself was surely Ole’s original power plant. We all had been too hot at Jud to look twice at the Regal, never expecting any change there. At last we got it straight. Jud’s poor brand of humor had been rankling in Ole’s soul until he was fair sick for a come-back. He had accepted Gomichoo (SC <S) (C@)