The Argosy, June 1904 — page 44: what you’re looking at

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

530 THE ARGOSY. “ Grab hold an’ move on, or I’ll open you up!” , He thrust the weapon, held with the back of the blade between the index and second finger, under the Kid’s nose. The threat was no idle one; the march was resumed. Staggering, stumbling, bathed in sweat from the unaccustomed toil, they proceeded another hundred yards, when nature gave out. The tramp is, as a rule, soft muscled and under fed; the pair were no exception. It was apparent to Punk that they were really spent, for the Kid was hic- cuping between gasps. Being a leader of hoboes, it had never occurred to him that he could help, and save his men. Punk’s eye fell upon a_ hand-car vaguely outlined at the side of the track. It was a solution of the problem. He gave his orders in a few words, and presently the car was on the track with Holden huddled against the up- right support of the double lever. “Now youse get behind an’ push till we’re far enough so’s dey can’t hear de pumpin’. Den we'll get on am’ send her along for all she’s wort?!” There was a grade which made the running easy. Even if they had not recognized the sleeping village, any one of the tramps could have told by the descent that they were west of the San Gorgonio Pass. After a quarter of an hour of push- ing they manned the car and ran her with increasing speed through the dark- ness. The leader had formed a plan before compelling the others to take up the body. The finding of the hand-car had changed his scheme somewhat, and a later circumstance had still further modified it. But, as became a leader, he kept all this to himself. For the qualities which make for leadership are the same in trampdom as in the world of industry or finance. As he would have put it, he “kept them guessing.” Hardly a word was spoken, and that only to regulate the speed of the car, until they pounced down the long grade and across the bridge on the outskirts of San Martinez. PRODUCED BY UNZ.ORG eCoOMmMiclboolks.co@ ELECTRONIC REPRODUCTION PROHIBITED A mile or two away a few scattered lights marked the situation of the town; there was a smell in the air which came from the skirts of dawn. The night had turned. “Hold hard!” ordered the leader. The car came to a stop across the bridge. The men dropped their stiff- ened fingers from the levers and almost fell from the platform. “Now lay him across de track.” “Say, youse is kiddin’!” exclaimed Baldy, in a frightened voice. “Am I? Youse will find out pretty soon if I am. Plank him down now, in front of de car!” The Kid began to cry. “Don’t do it, Punk,” he begged. “Maybe he ain’t dead yet, an’ any ways, it’l] wreck de train dat hits it! I ain’t never done nuttin’ like dat, Punk, an’ I can’t!” “Say, it makes me dead weary to meet up wit’ cheap stiffs hke you two! If I didn’t t’ink for youse, youse would be doin’ time up in San Quentin inside a week. But I’m sick of furnishin’ all de nerve an’ all de brains! When youse has carried out my orders, youse can hit de pike, becos ’m trough wit’ youse! But Pll put you wise for onct.” These words were uttered in a hoarse whisper. Punk sucked his ips for a mo- ment and then explained himself. * De trouble wit’? you guys is dat you got no brains. Let youse do it, an’ youse couldn’t get away from nowhere, not if youse had money! If youse had ’a’ had your way, you'd been pinched before daylight. For all youse know, we was spotted before dot side-door Pullman was sealed. “Well, s’?posen’ dey found dis guy back dere, croaked, what happens? I gets away, but youse ain’t wise, an’ dey gets youse, an’ I have to stay under cover. But we sticks him across de rails, a freight hits him an’ den mixes up wit’ de hand-car. Dey knows where de hand-car comes from, becos de sec- tion boss tells, so nachally dey t’inks dat dis guy swiped it an’ maybe fell asleep runnin’ down grade, or dat it got away from him an’ he didn’t have de nerve to jump. ’Course he’s so mixed up after de freight bunts into him dat dev can’t know he was croaked before dey im