Argosy All-Story Weekly, October 6, 1923 — page 100: what you’re looking at

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

882 and vengeance. They watched the fugitive land on the other side, pull his canoe up in the willows, and disappear in the under- growth. “Dar now!” Figger Bush mourned. “My two good dollars is plum’ gone for- ever!” The afternoon sun was hot upon the baking sand around them, the mosquitoes had found them, so they sauntered sadly back to the shadow of the clump of willows and their abandoned holes in the sand. Hitch sat down, despairing and hopeless. He had done his best and failure and de- feat were his reward. Hardly conscious of his action, he began to chop at the big sample book with the keen blade of his battle-ax. “IT figger dat I better not go back to Tickfall, fellers,” he said. “TI ain’t likely to be populous wid all de lodge members atter I loss dat two hundred dollars fer ’em. I resigns my head choppin’ job right now an’ T’ll let you-alls tote dis ole ax back to de lodge.” ““ Dey shore will wool you aroun’ ef you go back,” Pap Curtain agreed. “ Dey’ll buzz you scand’lous. I don’t blame you fer skedaddlin’. I feels kinder pesticated my- se’f wid de way you busted in yo’ job.” “TI figgers you will git expellt from de lodge even ef you does make yo’se’f absent,” Mustard Prophet remarked. ‘“ As a lodge, we ain’t never suffered no loss as big as you done pulled down on us, an’ we don’t aim to fergit it.” ‘Us feels like you oughter be made a example of,” Figger Bush said. Hitch stopped hacking at the book with his ax, and absently spread open the pages and gazed with unseeing eyes upon its little scraps of colored cloth. Out of the center of a large sample which he had cut in half with a downward stroke of his ax, he saw U Can you imagine a use for would-be suicides ? Lo) ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. a raveling. He pulled at it with his fingers, put it into his mouth, chewed it mechani- cally, then reached for more fodder. The second raveling was different from the first. It came out from under the sam- ple and appeared to be a slip of colored paper. With his thoughts occupied with his trouble, he unfolded the paper, playing with it in his fingers. Then he sat up with a jerk. It was one half of a twenty-dollar bill! From the other side of the sample, he ex- tracted the other half of the currency which he had cleft in two with his ax. With a loud whoop, the other men came out of their sand holes to him and began to examine the other cloth samples. Some were pasted only at the top, others were glued solidly to the page, and beneath each of the well-pasted samples was a ten-dollar bill! “Bless Gawd!” Figger Bush howled. _“ Dat’s how come dat Jim Golly pouent ddt bottle of glue!” “Us is got our money back, niggers,” Hitch Diamond bellowed joyfully. We'll leave it pasted jes’ whar it is an’ show it to de lodge.”’ They started joyfully back to town, sing- ing songs of praise for Hitch Diamond, pro- claiming to the world their gratitude for the recovery of their money. At the edge of the woods where they were to leave the path and enter the highroad which led to Tickfall, Hitch Diamond stopped and grinned at his companions. “Is you niggers aimin’ to go back to Tickfall wid me?” he asked quietly. “* Suttinly,” they replied in chorus. “ Dat’s all right,” Hitch said with a slow smile. “I’m proud to git yo’ comp’ny. But I advices you-all to go back on de sand- bar an’ put on yo’ clothes. Not a nigger of you is got on a rag!”’ U One man thought out such a thing and founded the Suicide Club, a strange organization you can read about next week in PERIDOUX BY FRED JACKSON one of the most strikingly original Novelettes we have ever published. COMicloOoe (©