Argosy, Vol. 117, No. 2 — page 115: what you’re looking at

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

YELLOW SOAP. was unable to look away, put his hand in his pocket, found five cents, drew a long, shaking breath and—fell. He endeavored to eat a sandwich with reserve, but failed. It lasted for exactly one minute and seventeen seconds. After this he sipped his beer slowly and tried to ignore the scrutiny of a sandy-haired bar- tender. The beer was soon gone, too, and Hargraves tilted his glass and drank, rather, sucked, the last drops. He made a noise that Delia used to smack him for making. She used to smack him with vigor and on a rather intimate spot. He remembered it, sighed, then smiled with a leery hint. A gentleman! “Nother?” asked the sandy-haired man in the soiled white apron, coming out from behind the stained and battered bar. “No,” said Hargraves, recalling the state of his finances. ‘‘ Maybe later.” The man put his hands on the table and - leaned forward. ‘“ Broke?” he inquired. ‘ Bet you are “What the hell does that matter to you?” demanded Hargraves, with a sullen glare. “T been there,” said the barkeeper, “I been there. I bet yuh ain’t hed yer collar laundried fer a month.” “Seems to be your busy day for bets,” he was answered. The man looked at him for a second or two, and then disappeared in the direction of the kitchen. A little later a waiter ap- peared. He carried a tray loaded with a platter of ham and eggs, a pot of coffee, huge slices of bread, and some unnaturally yellow butter. “Jim ordered ’em fer yuh,” said the man. ‘‘ You don’t have to pay.” Har- graves looked, tried to leave the place, but stood staring because the smells had made his stomach ache clear through to his back. He found himself following the waiter to a table, found himself sitting down, and then he leaned forward, stuck a tin fork into some ham, and began. Strangely, tears came to his eyes with his first bite. He blinked angrily. “Go slow there, bub,” said the sandy- haired man, who had come up and stood looking on. “ Yuh ain’t a ostrich!” !?? 265 Hargraves looked up. The bartender of the soiled apron smiled down on him. He had a rather gentle, -good-bad face. One of those that age looks on with ques- tion and that youth turns from—so sure is youth of its clear-cut judgment. -““ What ’d you do it for?” asked Har- graves. He wiped some egg from his mouth on the back of his hand. ‘““ Me?” said the man. “ Oh, I dunno.” He half turned away in embarrassment and then stepped back and reaching in a pocket brought forth some change and laid three cents orm the table. ‘“ There,” he said, “have your collar laundried. There ain’t nothing on Gawd’s earth that ‘ll make a man more down, nor keep him lower than a collar turned fifteen times.” Hargraves pocketed the three cents and the man turned back to his post. ‘“T can’t thank you,” said Hargraves, after he had finished quite everything. ‘ll just say if—if God is any kinder than you were, then—well—” Hargraves stopped. The sandy-haired bartender was shaking something in a gleaming aluminum shaker. He smiled and, still shaking, spoke. “ Kid,” he said, “ that wasn’t nothin’. You turn up here to-morrow noon.” He stopped shaking, opened the can and poured out its contents, then he shoved the drink across the bar to a man who was reading a morning paper. After that he looked at the watching boy and smiled. “Did yuh ever think,” he said, “ that mebbe Gawd is the decent things you and me and the other fellah does? Just that and no more. Sometimes I do, and I reckon if He was just that He’d be strong enough to boss things. Ain’t that true?” Hargraves moved along, for the bartender had gone down the counter and was busy before a group who had just entered. He paused in his work long enough to wave at Hargraves and to call a cheery, ‘“ See yuh to-morrow, kid!”’ Hargraves felt a warmth inside, and he walked with his old time swing. The. afternoon was full of luck. His services were used for advertising a hair tonic until six, when he shed his flopping boards and went toward a restaurant which COPMIGCOOOKS (C@