Argosy All-Story Weekly, October 6, 1923 — page 126: what you’re looking at

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

908 “Why, for killing that mutt. You needn’t be leery. We'll all say it was self- defense.” ‘“T ain’t worrying none,” says Bunt. ‘What do you mean you ain’t worrying?” ‘“ He’s still running,” says Bunt. ‘“ He ain’t a going to die.” ‘Then I’m crazy,” says Pete, thinking he ain’t heard him right. ‘ You shot him up, didn’t you? We seen it! You hit him all over, He’s all tore to pieces! Ain't no man can carry all that lead and live!” ‘“* But he ain’t got no lead in him!” says Bunt. ‘ He ain’t got nothing in him! All I wanted to do was to tickle him some.” “For the love of—tickle him some! With three loads from a pump gun—” ‘Full of salt,” Bunt explains simple enough. ‘‘ Once when I was a kid I seen it worked on a bull. He’ll be pretty tender maybe for the next day or two. It takes the fight out of them. I didnt’ want to kill nobody, but I made up my mind he was going to let me alone. Maybe I hadn't ought to done it, but when I seen him using Mina that way something come over me. 1 thought of the gun I’d loaded with salt that way. That bird was getting too fresh—”’ Wasn’t that a howl, now, I ask vou? Bunt never seen what the gang was laugh- ing about. “Tt ain’t funny,” he says. “‘ He might of hurt Mina, and I don’t know but what he was trying to pull some rough stuff on me.” “Tl tell the world!” “ Bunt, you’re the goods—”’ And then Mina comes out of the dressing tent and interrupts the conversation again. Somewhere about midnight, Sam, he comes sneaking in. In the morning he was slow-footing around the lot. “Thought you’d quit?” says Pete sar- castic, seeing him first. Sam flinched. Maybe it was on account of what Pete said to him, but knowing Sam it was hard to take it that way. He acted more like a kid that’s stayed in swimming too long on a sunny day—like he wasn't comfortable standing up in his clothes. “ T change my mind,” says Sam. ‘‘ May- be vou Jet me go back to work again?” Pete egurgled. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. ‘You must of changed your mind if you got one now!” Pete was great at flapping a mean tongue. ‘“T never done nothing—”’ “Can that stuff!” says Pete. ‘‘ Get in the tent. I'll hunt up the spieler and tell him to get ready to make an opening.” It would be nice, now, to tell how Sam was reformed, and Bunt and Mina got along fine all the rest of the season. But it wouldn’t be true. Mina was in love with Bunt, the poor fish, all over again, and scared to death of him, too. It sure made Bunt lonesome. Mina had hardly nothing to talk about when she couldn’t tell Bunt where he got off at no more. He had a kind of a case when he blames Sam for that. In less than two weeks Sam was wanting to quit again. One of the boys overheard him talking to Pete: ‘TI can’t stand it,” groans Samson, the strong man. ‘‘ You got to make that Bunt Simpson quit picking on me. He’s after me all the time!” ‘“‘ Crown him!” says Pete. ‘* He’d kill me,” says Sam all hopeless. “Well, that would be your funeral. Anyway, Ill Joust you one myself if you pull any more stuff about quitting again. Go on over and shove that tank wagon out of the road, and save the trouble of hook- ing up a team.” Sam shoved it. A little thing like that wasn’t nothing to a big gorilla like him. But that just shows. No guy can’t have evervthing. If Sam had been as strong be- tween the ears as he was from the neck down, he might of been a song writer or something. Like he was, he was a ton of cheese. Sure, all that there caveman stuff is just the bunk in the movies. It goes great in the dark on the screen. But it gets across be- cause they pay out good coin to the bums that are hired to be beat up that way. But outside— Try it! Pretty soon some softy will lean over and say: ‘“‘ Poor fellow—I wonder how that happened?”’ Sam never studied no history. Got it? Fly cops and shotguns! That’s where this - here civilization comes in. COMicloOoe (©