Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 146 No. 4 — page 122: what you’re looking at

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

“hi om his teeth clicked he could not keep down the giggles that would come. That Jaughter brought home to Springtime just where he stood and the knowledge made “Lay off that, kid,” he hissed, “ or Ill skin you alive!” Johnny did stop, and Springtime let him go. “Now,” he said grimly, “T’ll give you just ten seconds to tell me where you live! —’ve got to leave this damn town and I can’t nntil I know where to take you. This time you kick in, as sure as God made apples!”’ Johnny cast a furtive glance at the door. “One,” said Springtime, taking such a handful of the boy’s coat that there was no chance of his escape, “ two, three, four—” “Cheese it,” said Johnny earnestly. “Springtime, I’ve got some big news for you.” “ Five, six, seven—” “Honest to God,” whispered Johnny, looking around, “ some real big stuff. You don’t want to pick beans, do you? Well, you've got to if the old man says the word. Now, I can get you out of this if you'll just lay off the rough stuff. There’s one thing the old man wants done, and you can do it for him. I ain’t wise to everything yet, but I’m getting wise.” “ Eight,” said Springtime, and stopped. He glared into the upturned face of the “This is straight?” he said. “If I find you've been fooling me I sure will tan you!” “ Straight as hell!” said Johnny solemn- ly. “And there might be a little jack in it for somebody if it was worked right.” “Spill it—what is it?” _ “Didn’t I tell you I couldn’t tell just now—to-morrow maybe, or the next day, when I get more dope. Now just lay off me. I don’t blame you for being sore at this job, but that’s no reason why you eee ere et fd ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. ously and went to the door. ae er, “Tt’s good stuff,” be sd; * god rd s stuff!” i ae CHAPTER XV. THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ALL KNOWLEDGE. PRINGTIME worked for almost a S straight hour the next morning, but at the end of that time he simply had to get up and look out of the window, and once out of his chair the effort of getting back to it was beyond him. The schoolboy dragging himself to school with reluctant feet was a race horse compared to Spring- time, and when he did pull himself back to his work, it was with the painful exertion of the runner dragging himself over the last ten yards to the tape. Once down he worked in spasmodic bursts, and finally got up in such a rage that he kicked over a measure of beans. ‘““ Why the hell I do this I don’t know!” Pulling the chair up against the bin he sat down to sulk. At noon he was still in the chair, tipped against the bin. Osborne made no adverse comment on seeing him, but ran his hands through what beans he had done and said: “ That’s better, you're developing a fielding eye.” When he had gone Johnny slipped in and stood inside the door, so that he could watch the pathway leading to the shed. “T’ve got the dope, Springtime; the real doughnuts. Now if you can get away with this the old guy ‘ll give you a house and lot and you'll never have to pick another bean as long as you live.” Johnny peered out again. “ Can you pitch?” he asked. ce No.” ‘ That’s bad. That’s bad. I had an idea you could, but maybe we can work it some other way. Do you reckon yun COME ee ® good pitcher somewhere?” “Look here, kid, spill it. You're $58 flapping i in the wind now.” . : % 4 ‘fh -4 s, e@ . = rrr = a — ide at ae: eee ili t peatir 7 am yy * + ag ner wy od . i] UV e wie wre Tax ‘< re . *comicbooks.com