Argosy, Vol. 123, No. 1 — page 75: what you’re looking at

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

PRIDE He had to go several blocks befere he reached a restaurant, and the one which . he eventually found was merely a hole in. the wall, a lurich-counter; but through the window he beheld a man in white cap and apron frying ham and eggs and hot cakes on a broad slab of iron. It was the goodhi- est sight which had ever met the eye of Henry Tyson. He snapped his fingers at the waiter as he swung onto a stool. : “Ham!” said Tyson, and then choked. “And eggs—” he continued hoarsely— “and hot.cakes. Stacks of ’em. Piles of 7em. And quick!” Ber The waiter stared at him, but he had seen hungry men before, and even while he stared a plate of bread and a pat of butter and knife and fork and spoon clat- tered upon the imitation-marble top of the counter. Butter—but that was a needless luxury; the teeth of Tyson were instantly in the bread. _ The minute-hand of the clock stole on past one little black line after another; and not until it had made a complete revolu- tion of the dial did Tyson push back on his stool with a sigh of success. Automati- cally he reached into a coat. pocket, but his hand came out empty. His hungry ‘eye darted at a glass case filled with cigars and cigarettes. And among the cigarettes the first box which met his glance was his favorite Egyptian brand. A moment later he was drawing down great breaths of smoke. “How much?” he asked, and puffed a cloud toward the ceiling. “ Eighty and twenty,” “One buck.” | The hand of Tyson, already in his pocket, closed convulsively on his entire capital. One-from two left one. “What!” he cried. : “Twenty for the cigarettes,” said the waiter, prepared to argue. ‘“ And ham and eggs—”’ : | “Never mind,” groaned Tyson, and Shoved the large, round dollar across the counter. On the street again, however, his spirits rose instantly. The spring air, dry and cool, at this hour, fanned his forehead; he © ARGOSY said the waiter. OF TYSON. 65 had eaten to repletion; the familiar thick, sweet smoke went deep into his lungs. _ Tf there are three qualifications for mor- tal happiness, meat and tobacco are two of them. Tyson was happy. And in his mood of aimless content he wandered up the slope, past the dam, where cranes and derricks stood idle—for even a Garth could not work peons on Sunday—and up the valley of the Chiluah. It was the first time he had gone up the stream for any distance, but now his care- less mcod Jed him on and on. Just above the dam the valley was sparsely wooded, but the trees thickened as he proceeded, mostly short-trunked and of species of which he knew nething. Of course he knew the cottonwoods and the willows, par- ticularly thick along the edges of the Chiluah, but the rest were new to him. The leaves were a lighter and yellower- green than any foliage with which he had been familiar in the East. And throughout the forest, in every open space, there was the inevitable cactus of the Southwest, sometimes broad, heavy leaves, close to the ground, sometimes tall and slender stalks armed with terrific thorns that could defy beast and birds and keep the worthless dry pith safe in the stem. Sometimes he found tiny shrubs bearing pears cevered with an armor -thick with reddish spines. Through such patches as these hé had to pick his way with care, for he knew that the thorns were often of sufficient strength to pierce the stoutest shoe-leather, and they made deep, poisonous wounds, like the teeth - of a beast of prey. He had seen the effect of them on the feet of the peons. He went on very leisurely. His mind moved sluggishly, for all his spare energy was wrapped around the good things in his stomach, and he still thought of the tasty ham, and his nostrils pulled down the cigar- ette-smoke deeper and deeper. In the same manner his eyes nibbled at the good things about -him, and even in ‘the burned basin of the Chiluah noted each variety—the changes in the outgrowths of irock, for instance. Sometimes they showed the red stains of copper-ore, and now and ‘again he picked up a fragment of quartz glittering with sparks of yellow. CO DOOLK AMG C©