Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 149: what you’re looking at

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

Yauway yards—it was a shame about urk, for somehow or other he had come to Stand for that wild half of him that loved all things in tramp life, its humor, its ir- _ Fesponsibility, its hardships, its queer, in- _ tangible rewards. His defection was a stag- _ gering blow, and instead of looking forward to his long jump across two-thirds of a con- tinent with pleasure, Springtime looked for- ward to it as something of a job that was bound to be uncomfortable. If a true pal ever lived, it was Durkin, and he felt deep in his heart that he who had wandered all these years without a true companion, had found one, only to lose him to a mission and a widow. Springtime cut through a clump of ware- houses and crawled through a hole in a fence and into the railway yard. He knew that there was a yardmaster’s office in the mid- dle of that fan of tracks and that there was a chalked bulletin on the outside of it showing the schedule of trains. Locating the little gray-green structure, he walked toward it, and so long had he been out of hobo life that when a bellow sounded from the far end of the yard—a bellow that said: “Git, you son of a toad!” he did not con- nect it m any way with himself. It was only when he saw a brakeman grinning from the top of a moving string » Of box cars that the old instinct awoke, and looking behind him, he saw the great Slim McCabe tearing down between the tracks with his sap dangling from one wrist. Springtime’s response was automatic— he sprinted for the first open space he saw— | a break in the six-foot board fence, through _ which ran a pair of tracks. He saw that in _ addition to his other talents, McCabe was a ter; he was no mean runner himseif, t he could tell by the sound of feet in > cinders that the constable was gaining lim. He flashed through that opening i found himself in a perfect cul-de-sac, strip of side track for storing coal rith a six-foot board fence on each side d two strands of barbed wire on top dodge nor stop, so he ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. lets in his pocket and a blackjack on his they stuck on a resinous kno F clean over the top, and as hei oat there for a fraction of a second he cat em t not only had McCabe stopped runnin that h ; ; g, but e was laughing and Slapping one hy hand against his thigh. He had just re in which to wonder what he was laughi at; then found out, for he came d _ ' . ’ own Ina ditch filled with water—six feet of cold crusted water, He broke through that crust iry i as if it had been thin glass and we and down, over his head until his feet struck mud and stuck there. Half wading, half swimming, he floundered to the shore, and as he pulled himself out into the biting wind he still! heard the shouts of merriment com. ing from the other side of the fence. Springtime pulled himself out and shook himself without saying a word, for he had no words that would possibly fit the occa- sion. He kicked about a peck of black mud from each foot and began to run and did not stop until he was back at the Star of Life Mission. Durkin received him without amazement; when he saw his condition he went to a cupboard and brought back coat and trousers, neatly pressed and arranged on hangers, shirt, underclothes, even shoes. “I have three suits,” he said casually. “You can change here where it’s warm. She’s gone.” While Springtime warmed himself into a glow with the towel and dressed, Durkin spread his wet clothes over the backs of mission chairs and placed them near the stove to dry. His sympathy was perfect, for he said not a word while Springtime was changing; and when he had clothed himself anew he threw open the door of the stove and offered his guest a cigarette. Then when Springtime had lighted up, he began to feel it possible to talk about what had happened to him. ‘A bull chased me over a fence,” he com- plained. “All I was doing was walking across the freight yards, and some guy yelled: ‘Hit the grit, you son of a toad!’ and I looked around and here was McCabe with a sap after me. If it had been any- body else I would have faced it out, but not with him! I'll bet he had a pair of brace- comicbooks.com—