Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 18, 1925 — page 149: what you’re looking at

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

A COURSE IN ETIQUETTE. many families had moved to the plantations for the cotton-picking season who would later return and occupy every vacant house for the winter. Selecting from their choice of many the cabin they preferred, they borrowed the money from Skeeter and paid the month’s rent in advance and then unloaded their few sticks of furniture and started in house- keeping. Late that night Pink Duck sat up in bed, roused by the shock of a great idea. ‘“Whut ails you, Pinkie?” Ledora de- manded. ‘ Did a rat run over yo’ face?”’ “Naw!” Pink snapped. ‘A _ bright notion done run through my head.” ‘‘ Shuckins,” Ledora replied disgustedly. “Ef you wuz raised so durn polite, how come you don’t know better dan to wake up a sleepin’ lady at night wid yo’ head notions.” Thereupon Pink climbed out of bed and sat upon the steps of his cabin until morn- ing dawned. “Ef dat ole fat nigger woman don’t stop pesticatin’ me *bout my good manners, I’ll bust dat lady’s head open—like a real gen’leman,” he growled. VI. At dawn two men started from opposite points toward the same place. Kitt Starr who had ridden to the river on the truck had remained concealed in the willows, resting, eating food which he secured in the houses of colored people, purchased with money which he had fraudulently acquired from Pink Duck. Kitt had started away from the Shong- aloon store with a canvas bag full of money. He awoke beside the camp fire in the care of Pink and Ledora, and the canvas bag was missing. He remembered abandoning his automatic pistol, but he could not re- call having dropped the canvas bag in his bewildered wanderings in the woods. As his memory of all the events returned, he became convinced that he had brought his stolen treasure to the place where he had met the two negroes, He had missed it that morning about the time they had met the truck, and while the negroes had 299 their backs to him, he had searched their few possessions and was convinced that they were not taking the bag with them to Tick- fall. When the truck passed, Kitt rode back to hunt for his treasure. He did not find it, and had made his way to the river, dreaming, meditating, trying to recall what he had done with the bag. His one ques- tion was: ‘‘ Where is it?” He was now going back a second time to see if he could find it. About the same time Pink Duck started for the same place; but Pink had the sher- iff with him and was riding on one of Flournoy’s saddle-horses. “Yes, suh, boss,” Pink asserted, as they rode along. ‘“ Dat mule trod on dat hard muddy bundle an’ mighty nigh sot down on his pestle tail when it tripped him up, an’ he kicked it in de bushes alongside a stump. I kin go right straight to dat spot.” “ Kitt Starr may have seen the same thing and that was his reason for riding back on the truck,” Flournoy suggested. ‘““ Naw, suh, dat couldn’t be. Dat Kitt didn’t had his right sense when he arrived wid us. An’ he wuz on de fur side of de wagon when de mule mighty nigh fell down over dat bag.” “All right. If we get the money, we'll let Kitt ramble for a while,” Flournoy said. “Ef you ever ketch him, Marse John, I hopes you’ll learn him some manners,” Pink said earnestly. ‘ Dar ain’t no call fer a man to be onpolite. Books is wrote to teach ’em an’ dey oughter read ’em.” In the early sixties of the last century, every man and woman of color in the South was given a certain document and their feeble intelligence was informed: “ By this paper, you are free.” For many years the untaught slave could comprehend no more than that a printed sheet had liberated him from bondage. . As a race, therefore, the colored people have inherited a rever- ence for the printed page which the Anglo- Saxon, familiar with literature, cannot appreciate. Somewhere Pink Duck had begged a battered bureau from some white man’s home. Hauling the treasure to his cabin, he had found in one of the drawers a EOPMICLOOOKS (E@)