Argosy All-Story Weekly — "The Purple Limited" — page 174: what you’re looking at

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

‘740 ARGOSY- ALLSTORY WEEKLY. man ever had. He’s worked for me as hard as he could have worked for himself. And now—now the three of us are together, David. I'll split the Majestic stock three ways—and each of us gets a third.” “I don’t want none of it, son,’’ David answered softly. ‘‘ Jest like that feller who helped me with my farm, my payment ‘is knowin’ that you are what I jedged you to be as soon as I saw you. I don’t want none of it.” “IT don’t care what you want,” Bert re- torted. “You'll get it! And so will Fred.” “How about Ruth?” asked David, his eyes twinkling. “ Ruth?” Bert repeated, as if the very name awed him. “If I ain’t mistaken,” added David, “she did a heap to keep you bingin’ an’ bangin’ afound here. When‘a man don’t love no woman, son, he’s like to git dis- _couraged an’ turn back if a ant-hill is a-lay- in’ in his path; but if he loves a woman, he don’t stop if the Rocky Mountains is stand- in’ b’tween him an’ her. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if Dan’l went into the lion’s den b’cause some woman happened to ask him to. = Y'know, that leetle chubby feller with the bow ’n’ arrows is the greatest magician that ever was. He kin make a wise man ‘out’n a fool an’ a fool out’n a wise man, give a weak feller strength, an’ make a strong feller weak. There ain’t nothin’ he can’t do. “You say I helped you, an’ Fred helped you, son; but you ain’t givin’ the credit where the credit b’longs. If ’twasn’t fer that there leetle naked critter with the curly hair, you'd ’a’ binged an’ banged in, an’ mebbe binged an’ banged out—but you wouldn’t ’a’ stayed so long.’’ “But, David,” Bert protested, his face hot with embarrassment, “Ruth Warren and I don’t even speak. She—she hasn’t said a pleasant word to me as long as—” David interrupted him with a wink. ‘When a man loves a woman, son, her scorn is more inspirin’ than her love in re- turn. I wonder,” he added, squinting through one eye and rubbing his chin sage- ly—‘‘ I wonder if Ruth don’t know that! Well, you’d better be gittin’ back to town, an’ tell Fred the news. You two’ll have some plannin’ to do, I reckon.” CHAPTER XXIV. | PREPARATIONS. T nine thirty that evening, Bert and Fred were still seated in The Punch office; by that time, settled down to sober discussion. As it had before, when they were making their plans for the Ma- jestic, the most serious problem that now confronted them was a lack of. capital. They saw the necessity of waging an ex- tensive advertising campaign; and such a campaign would cost money—a great deal of it. “YT tell you what I'll do,” said Fred. ‘You offered me an interest in the place, and I refused it. I still refuse it. But I’ve saved up about five thousand dollars, and if you’re willing, I'll invest it in the hotel. Five thousand ought to just about see us through.” ; “‘ And I have twenty-five hundred left,” said Bert. ‘ That makes—” “We can’t count on that. You can’t open the place without any capital on hand. You stil have food to buy and ser- vants of all kinds to hire—and it takes money. Why, you'll be surprised to see hd much there is to be done before you can get started. For one thing, you'll have to fix up the back grounds a bit—lay out nice walks, and make the spring bigger. “You can’t have every one dropping to their knees and drinking the way you said you did. That ‘ll all have to be piped and made into a sort of drinking fountain; and it really ought to be enclosed in a building of some sort. Why, you'll find that you’ve a hundred things to do, and, believe me, it takes money! I doubt that even my five thousand will be enough.” “It’s impossible to get another loan?” | “ Of course. But, say,” Fred suggested, “you have a rich father. Now that you’re sure of success, why not ask him to lend you—”’ Bert shook his head. ‘“ Nothing doing. I'd get it, all right, but I swore I’d never (CCO)INN (C 6)(0)©) KS (C(O)