Argosy All-Story Weekly, June 13, 1925 — page 120: what you’re looking at

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

592 address he had forgotten it; but he remem- bered having written and handed over his own name and address. He remembered that they had agreed to meet at noon—Jeff was to call for him—and go out of the city to a spot where Jeff could demonstrate his prowess with an ax and his general fitness to confront the public as The Tall Timber Terror, Lord of Lumberjacks. (That'll fetch ‘em!) And what else did he remember? There was something else—talk of some- thing or somebody else that had impressed him at the time as being worth following up. Why hadn't he made a note of it at the time? That’s the trouble with real beer. Every rose has its thorn. Mumphy got out of bed, still searching his mind for a clew to the thing that he remembered to have forgotten; and as his right hand contracted on his shaving brush a twinge of pain gave him the clew. The other strong bushwhacker. That was it. ‘The only man who had ever bested Jeff in the gentle pastime of gripping hands. That was what he had been trying to remember. It was worth remembering; and it might be worth following up. He would make fur- ther inquiries into the matter. A man stronger than Jeff, than that giant who stood six feet and three and a half inches in his socks and was wide as a barn door at the shoulders, might prove even a better proposition than the lost Jules. Jeff turned up at noon; and after lunch he and Mumphy went out of town, travel- ling by street car and afoot, to a little old farmstead that promised well. There they found a jag of white birch in long lengths, a hefty ax on a long handle, and a tall old man who accepted a dollar and invited them to go ahead. Jeff gave a demonstration of axmanship which satisfied Mumphy and fairly dazzled the old farmer. Then, with chopping-blocks and grindstones and odds- and-ends round the place, he demonstrated his general fitness of arm and back and leg. “You'll do,” said Mumphy, satished that he could make a popular turn of Jeff with a little hardening and instruction and a Jot of bunk and dressing-up. On the cityward journey he said, “‘ You're a powerful man, Jeff; and I can show you how to capitalize your strength. But ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY, muscles is only a part of that game. It takes brains and experience to put that strong-man stuff across nowadays; and I got the brains and the experience. Leave it to me. Yes, you’re strong—but I’ve known a stronger.” ‘“ So’ve I~but only one,” replied Jeff. “Where was that?” asked Mumphy, casually. ‘“ Not in the woods, I bet a dollar to a doughnut. In some circus, I guess—and faked stunts.” ‘““ Gimme the dollar,” returned Jeff. “ Sure it was in the woods—an’ no fakin’, neither.” “Ts that so? It listens fine, Jeff; and maybe I’d believe it if you was to whistle it on your fingers.” ‘“ Whistle be damned! I seen him in the woods, I tell you, and in this Province of Quebec, too—away up on Little Mus- quash.” ‘What did he do?” ° “A plenty. For one thing, he picked up the butt of a big spruce another feller lodged an’ carried it out an’ clear an’ then chucked it away like you would a cigar.” ‘What was his name?” asked Mumphy, and neither his glance nor his voice was as disinterested as he intended it to be. <A sudden hope had put him off his guard. The gleam of eye and eagerness of voice did not escape Jeff’s notice. So Jeff con- sidered the question and the subject before answering. Ot a suspicious nature was Jeff, except when blinded by vanity. Now he suspected .\lumphy of wanting to find Jules for the purpose of making a professional strong man of him. In that case, where would he, Jeff, get off at? Second best. for a certainty. “His name?” he queried, scratching an ear. ‘“‘ Now what the hell was it? I clean disremember. He quit the Little Musquash country, anyhow.” A duller man than Dills Mumphy would have known that Jeff was lying; and a duller and Jess crafty man would have ac- cused him of it. But Mumphy said, in an indifferent and slightly jaded voice, ‘“ You sure got a bum memory, Jeff,” and let it go at that-—for the moment. A cleverer man than Mumphy might have guessed Jeft’s real reason for pretend- ing to forget the strong man’s name; and in 7A EO OO CO