“Pretty swell outfit you got, Chief.”
“Belong me. I got too damn’ much money. Strike oil.”
“Paid a lot for her, eh?”
“Sixty-fi’ hundred dolla.”
“Sixty-five hundred!”
“Um-m-m-m-m. Two wagon, one thousand. Six horse, twelve hundred;
elephant, ten hundred; smoke organ, two thousand; lion, five hundred;
tiger, five hundred. Plenty damn’ good outfit, you bet.”
“Buy out a circus?”
“Um-m-m-m-m-m. Plenty money. What’s matter your eye?”
“That,” said Dirty, “is none of your damn’ business.”
The fat Injun looks sad, and don’t say anythin’. Dirty rubs the palm of
his right hand on the leg of his chaps, and I know he’s wonderin’ just
where to shoot that Injun to hit a vital spot under all that fat. The
Swede in the red uniform ain’t payin’ no attention to us. He steps back
and squints at all them metal pipes on his instrument, his cap cocked on
one side of his bushy head.
The elephant leans forward on his ropes, and the slack jist gives him
room to reach the Swede, who lets out a yelp you could hear in the next
county, and begins waving his arms and legs; but the elephant took up
the slack in that uniform so quick that it cut off the yelps. He kinda
dangles the Swede in his trunk, like a baseball pitcher gettin’ ready to
throw, and all to once he heaves him up sideways, lets out a mighty
_woosh!_ and here comes the Swede, floatin’ horizontal through the air,
preceded by the soles of two of the biggest feet I ever seen.
That Swede never lost an inch of elevation nor did he change his
horizontal position until them two big feet landed square on the chest
of Chief Axlegrease and knocked him backwards through Runnin’ Wolf’s
teepee. The Swede landed on the back of his neck, rolled over and sat
up, blinkin’ his eyes.
“My name is Yergens,” says he. “Ay am de calli-yupe player, da’s all.”
“You ought to stick to it,” says Dirty. “Didja have a nice trip?”
The Swede didn’t say; he jist sets there blinkin’, one eye on the
elephant. The fat squaw comes over and looks inside the teepee, while
the kids all set there, grinnin’. The show was jist built for them. It
kinda strikes me that the old buck must run his family with an iron
hand, ’cause the fat squaw turns around and waddles over to the line up
of kids, and says--
“Make no noise--papa sleep.”
She’s either dumb as hell or she’s got a sense of humor. The Swede gets
to his feet and twists his clothes around to kinda fit his body.
“Some day,” says he, “Ay am going to keek hal from that brute.”
“Yeah,” says Dirty, “that’s great. But if you’re wise, you’ll stick to
your calli-yupe, Jergens.”
“Ay am mad, by yinks! Das har yob no goot. Work for Inchun! Ay am free
man, pas’ twanty-two, and dis Inchun business mak’ me seek. Ay don’ like
Inchun.”
* * * * *
_Clank!_ A can of beans hits the Swede in the back of the head and
knocks his cap over his nose. The squaw threw it, and she’s got another
can, in case this one didn’t register. But it did. Jergens straightens
up, puts his cap on backwards and strikes a dignified pose and points
his nose to the sky.
“O-o-o-o-o-oo lee-e-e-e oh layee-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e,” he yodels.
“O-o-o-oh lee-e-e-e oh layee-e-e-e, oh lay-hee-e-e-e-e,
hoo-o-o-o-o-o-o.”
“Sing good,” grins the squaw.
The Swede stops, rubs his head kinda hard and goes back to his steam
organ, where he leans and looks at the elephant. I don’t reckon the
Swede remembers jist what happened, but he’s got a suspicion. One of the
Injun kids hops off the wagon, picks up the can of beans and gives it
back to the squaw.
“Do it ag’in, mamma,” says he.
“Mamma busy.”
Me and Dirty wanders back to town. Chief Axlegrease was still asleep, I
reckon. We finds Runnin’ Wolf at the end of the street, talkin’ with
Tombstone Todd, and we wonders what they’re holdin’ a council over.
Ordinarily Tombstone wouldn’t speak to the old war whoop.
But we found out, after them Yaller Horsers had gone home. Magpie got it
from Smoky Potts, who can’t stand much liquor. It seems that them four
crippled crawlers have been figurin’ on startin’ a Wild West Show. Smoky
was a horse wrangler with the outfit from the 101 Ranch for a while, and
when they saw Chief Axlegrease go through Paradise they decides to annex
his outfit and start their show.
“They ain’t got money enough to even hire the Swede,” says Dirty. “That
old Injun paid sixty-five hundred for the outfit, and he wouldn’t sell
for a million. Them Yaller Horsers make me laugh. Start a show!”
“Goin’ to call it ‘The Yaller Horse Wild West’,” says Magpie. “Huh! Why,
Piperock could start one a lot bigger n’ better. I’d be willin’ to head
the aggregation.”
“You would,” says Dirty.
“I would--and guarantee a success. Piperock is jist as well able to buy
that Injun out as Yaller Horse is.”
“Yaller Horse ain’t bought it out yet. I seen Tombstone Todd talkin’ to
old Runnin’ Wolf, and I’ll betcha they’re framin’ up somethin’ on
Axlegrease.”
“Runnin’ Wolf must be,” grins Buck Masterson. “He bought two new decks
of red backed playin’ cards.”
Me and Dirty and Magpie left Buck’s place about midnight, and decided to
go down to Runnin’ Wolf’s wickiup and see what’s goin’ on. There’s a
lantern in the teepee, and we hears voices. Goin’ kinda careful like, we
gets close to the teepee. That float wagon is covered with dark humps,
where the squaw and their sixteen offsprings are wrapped in blankets and
plenty slumber.
Them two buck Injuns don’t hear nothin’, ’cause they’re playin’ poker in
the teepee. The Swede is propped up against a roll of blankets, snorin’
plenty, while Chief Axlegrease and Chief Runnin’ Wolf play poker on a
blanket, with the lantern danglin’ from a pole. The flap of the tent is
wide open.
“Money all gone,” states Axlegrease. “Plenty money in bank--no money
here.”
“Bet horse,” suggested Runnin’ Wolf. “How much you pay?”
“Two hundred dolla.”
“Too damn’ much; I bet hundred dolla.”
“Deal.”
Runnin’ Wolf took plenty time dealin’. He got up, grunted a few times
and sat down again--with the deck in his hands. Then he dealt slow.
“Bet one horse.”
“Good! Raise hundred dolla.”
“Bet two mo’ horse.”
“Raise two hundred. No more money. I got fo’ aces.”
Chief Axlegrease grunted and threw down his cards.
“You lose six horse,” said Runnin’ Wolf.
“My deal.”
Both men passed. On the next deal Chief Axlegrease lost his elephant on
a six horse bet. This time Runnin’ Wolf had four kings. They passed on
Axlegrease’s deal--as usual--and on the next hand Runnin’ Wolf won the
lion, tiger and four sets of harness. He had four queens. On his own
deal Chief Axlegrease wanted to bet, but Runnin’ Wolf passed.
This time old Runnin’ Wolf got up again, turned around once for luck and
sat down again--holdin’ the cards. We watched the deal, and I distinctly
saw Chief Axlegrease look at his cards and slide them under the blanket.
But he still had cards in his hand.
“How many?” asked Runnin’ Wolf.
“No cards.”
“No draw, dealer,” grunted Runnin’ Wolf.
“Pass,” said Axlegrease.
“Bet one five hundred dolla wagon?” queried Runnin’ Wolf. “I ante one
lion.”
“Good! I bet two five hundred dolla wagon.”
“I raise one lion.”
Chief Axlegrease thought it over.
“I got smoke organ, two thousand dolla. I call one lion and raise smoke
organ.”
“Fifteen hundred dolla, eh?” said Runnin’ Wolf. “I call with one
elephant and three hundred dolla cash, and raise one hundred dolla
cash.”
“Good! I call two set harness. What you got?”
“Plenty,” grunted Runnin’ Wolf, and spreads his hand.
Chief Axlegrease didn’t say a word. He leaned forward, grabbed Runnin’
Wolf by his thin neck and lifted him off the blanket. Old Wolf pasted
him one in the belly and they went down together, landin’ on top of the
Swede, who let out a yell, like one pipe of his calli-yupe--the high
pitched one. Somebody kicked the lantern out.
There’s plenty moonlight outside, but it’s shore dark in that teepee.
Out comes the Swede, turns over twice and lands under the float wagon.
Then out comes Runnin’ Wolf and Chief Axlegrease. They fall in a heap,
and Runnin’ Wolf breaks loose, gits to his feet and lopes away in the
night, makin’ plenty good on his nickname. Chief Axlegrease lets out a
weak war whoop, crawls to his feet and takes out after Runnin’ Wolf.
The Swede must have hit the runnin’ gears of that wagon, ’cause he’s
under there, singin’ at the top of his voice:
Ay vas born in Minnie-sota,
Den Ay came to Nort’ Da-a-akota;
Ride on Yim Hill’s beeg red vagon,
Yeeminy, I feel for fight!
“What’s the matter, mamma?” pipes up one of the papooses. “I hear papa
yell.”
“Sh-h-h-h-h,” grunts the fat squaw. “Papa restless.”
* * * * *
We sneaked inside the teepee and lit a match. There’s both hands on the
blanket, right where they laid ’em down. Runnin’ Wolf had four aces and
the joker, and Chief Axlegrease had four aces. The deck is still there,
and with one of them hands, it’s a full deck. There’s cards scattered
all over the place, and we follered Runnin’ Wolf’s trail half way to
town and he’s still sheddin’ red backed cards.
“Well,” says Dirty Shirt, “I reckon Runnin’ Wolf wins the circus. I seen
Chief Axlegrease hide the hand Wolf dealt him, and ring in a cold one
from under his leg.”
“All I seen was Runnin’ Wolf sneak a cold deck from inside his shirt,”
laughed Magpie. “They had one regular deck. Runnin’ Wolf had sets of
four aces, four kings, four queens planted where he could get ’em for
each bet, and he had one whole deck frozen for the grand climax; but
Axlegrease stole them four aces and played ’em against the four aces and
a joker Runnin’ Wolf dealt himself from the cold deck.”
“Well,” said Dirty Shirt, “you got to give Runnin’ Wolf a lot of credit
for runnin’ less ’n ten dollars up to a sixty-five hundred dollar circus
and all the loose money the oil well Injun had with him. That war whoop
knows a lot about poker--and he can outrun Axlegrease, that’s a cinch.”
The next mornin’ we finds the Swede in front of Buck’s saloon, settin’
on the sidewalk. His uniform is split down the back and he’s shy one
cap. One eye is all purple, and he’s lost a couple front teeth.
“Ay am t’rough,” says he, sad-like. “Dat Inchun got no money now. Never
since Ay come from Copenhagen do Ay get so many hurts. Ay am queet dis
yob. De beeg Inchun seet on de vagon, with two barrel gon in hees hand,
and hees say, ‘Ay shoot hal from somebody pretty queek. Ay have been
rob.’ De lion and tiger not been feed for two day. Ay tal heem so, and
hees say she feed pretty queek, when other Inchun comes back. Ay no git
pay for de yob, an A’m bruck. Das is no place for calli-yupe player, by
yimminy.”
“How about a little drink?” I asks.
“Val, Ay take drink alcohol, please.”
That calliope player’s insides must have been made of rubber. He took a
big scoop of raw alcohol and never grunted. Buck bought him another,
jist to see him drink, and then Magpie bought one.
“My name is Yergens,” says he. “Olaf Yergens, from Copenhagen.”
“Write it down, Buck,” says Magpie. “We’ll have to put somethin’ on his
tombstone. This here Swedish jigger is embalmed right now.”
While we’re talkin’, Smoky Potts, of Valier Horse, comes in. He offers
to buy a drink, and we’re so astonished that we accepts. Jergens takes
another scoop of raw alcohol, and Smoky looks him over curious-like.
“Ain’t that the jigger who plays the hot water accordion?” asks Smoky.
“Ay am de calli-yupe player,” says Olaf, kinda bat eyed. “Ay queet de
yob. You see, de Inchun played poker and loses de calli-yupe and
everyt’ing. He can’t pay my vages, so Ay queet de yob. Ay am Olaf
Yergens, from Copenhagen.”
“In alcohol,” adds Magpie, “a few yards of bandages, and you’re a first
class mummy, Olaf.”
“Who won all them there things?” asks Smoky.
“Runnin’ Wolf,” grins Dirty Shirt. “He cold decked the fat war whoop,
and the last we seen, Runnin’ Wolf was leadin’ by a shirt tail.”
“You mean Runnin’ Wolf owns the whole danged circus?”
“From the neck yoke to the elephant.”
“I’ll be danged! Well, I’ve got t’ be joggin’ along.”
After Smoky pulled out we put Olaf in a chair and folded his hands. Four
big glasses of raw alcohol is enough to pickle a rattlesnake. We started
a game of seven-up and are goin’ along nicely, when Dirty Shirt gits a
sudden idea.
“By golly, I’ve got it!” he snorts. “Runnin’ Wolf is down at Yaller
Horse, tryin’ to sell that outfit. Smoky Potts comes up to find out if
Runnin’ Wolf did win that outfit, and now he’s beatin’ back there to
make the deal.”
“That’s a cinch!” snorts Magpie.
“What’s to be done?”
“Morally,” says Dirty Shirt, “I own half of it, ’cause I staked Runnin’
Wolf to ten dollars, and he’d have to split the profit with me.”
Magpie almost dragged Dirty Shirt out of his chair.
“C’mon!” he yelps. “We’ll spike their pants to the floor.”
We didn’t know what it was all about, but we seen ’em headin’ for Judge
Steele’s little office. Scenery Sims, the sheriff, comes in and sets
down with us. Scenery is about as big as a quart bottle, and he talks
with a queer, squeaky voice. He knows the world ain’t none too good, and
it worries him a heap to think he can’t find out how to make it better.
Scenery wasn’t in town yesterday, so he don’t know a thing about the
Injun circus. Magpie and Dirty comes back, and Dirty hands Scenery a
legal paper. It’s an attachment on one-half the circus, demanding
one-half of the outfit, or the sum of three thousand two hundred and
fifty dollars, bein’ as the valuation is claimed to be sixty-five
hundred dollars.
“What damn’ circus is this?” squeaks Scenery.
“It’s down at Runnin’ Wolf’s teepee,” explains Magpie. “You can’t miss
it. We’ll go down with you, Scenery.”
“S’pose I’ve got t’ serve it. Well, c’mon. Looks funny t’ me. How did
Dirty Shirt ever git to ownin’ half a circus?”
“Lotta things you don’t know,” says Dirty Shirt.
We leads Scenery down there, and his eyes kinda bug out when he sees all
that aggregation. On top of the animal wagon sets Chief Axlegrease, with
a double barrel shotgun across his lap. The squaw and the kids are all
under the other wagon, sleepin’ in the shade. The elephant is backed
against the tree and he’s tore off every branch in reach. I reckon
that’s all the food he’s had since they arrived. The lion acts as sore
as a boil, and I’ll bet he’s hungry enough to eat hay.
“What you want?” asks the chief.
Scenery climbs up on a wheel and hands him the attachment. Axlegrease
opens it up, upside down and looks it over.
“What say?” he asks, and Dirty takes it back and reads it out loud.
“Um-m-m-m-m! Man own half, eh? How he get half?”
“I’m sheriff,” states Dirty Shirt, pointin’ at himself. “That paper says
a man owns half this damn’ circus, _sabe_? I take half this circus for
him.”
“You take?” Axlegrease opens his mouth wide and stares at Scenery. “You
take?”
“I take.”
“You git!” Axlegrease shoves both barrels of that shotgun down in
Scenery’s face. “You git fast!”
* * * * *
Scenery is kinda hypnotized by them twin tunnels, and he backs plumb
into that elephant, which kinda takes him to his bosom, as you might
say. Scenery don’t say a word, but his lips move in prayer. The elephant
kinda makes a little squealin’ noise, as though he was tickled stiff,
and then he spins Scenery around, like one of the band leaders whirls
his stick, and tossed him plumb up into that tree.
Scenery turned over, caught the open seat of his chaps on a snag limb,
and hung there upside down, ten feet above the elephant’s reach.
“Kill the dirty brute!” yells Scenery. “Kill him before he kills me!”
“They don’t climb trees,” says Magpie. “Stay where you are, Scenery.”
The limb kinda cracks a little, and Scenery says:
“Now I lay me down to sleep; I--I pray--I--I pray--”
“I dunno who you’re prayin’ to,” says Dirty Shirt, “but you don’t need
to lie about your position.”
“This limb is gittin’ weak!” wails Scenery. “Can’tcha help a feller? The
blood is all rushin’ to m’ head.”
“It can’t leak out,” says Dirty, “so don’t let that worry you. Anyway,
you seen your duty and you done it, Scenery. You’re high and dry in the
matter.”
“If this limb ever breaks, I’m a goner--and if it don’t break, I’ll die,
anyway.”
“Either way we lose a sheriff,” says Magpie. “Well, them is things we
have to face in this life. I always said you was born to be hung, but I
didn’t never suppose it would be upside down. If you quit jigglin’, you
might die natural.”
“I ain’t jigglin’; it’s that dang Injy rubber ox doin’ it. Somebody cut
him loose, won’t you, before he uproots the tree?”
Magpie walks a little closer to Axlegrease, who seems to be enjoyin’ it.
“Who takes care of the elephant?” asks Magpie.
Axlegrease shrugs his fat shoulders and sighs real deep.
“Damn’ Swede!” he says. “He go way.”
“Can he handle the elephant?”
“Um-m-m-m-m.”
_Pop!_ That limb busted up close to the tree, and poor Scenery turns
over once, lands all spraddled out on the elephant’s back, like a flyin’
squirrel. I reckon the shock was too much for the elephant, ’cause he
jist made a noise like one of them slip horns, swayed his whole weight
on that big rope around his hind leg, and the rope busted like a twine
string.
Mebbe the elephant wasn’t expectin’ to break loose, and when he did it
was too late to miss the big animal wagon. He hit jist above the right
front wheel, and the shock sent Chief Axlegrease up in the air, from
whence he descended on top of Scenery Sims, and away went that runaway
elephant, headin’ for the open country, blastin’ away like a trumpet at
every stride, while Scenery and Chief Axlegrease, arms wrapped around
each other’s necks, suspendin’ out from each side like a pair of pack
sacks, went along with the elephant.
I took a look around, and there goes mamma and her sixteen copper
colored offsprings, headin’ for Piperock like a flock of scared quail.
“Dirty,” says I, “I reckon your attachment took.”
“Looks thataway, Ike.”
“We’ll do the proper thing, under the circumstances,” says Magpie. “Git
the harness on them horses and we’ll move this outfit up to the livery
stable, where they’ll be safe from all harm.”
“Meanin’ Yaller Horse, eh?” grins Dirty.
“Well, yea-a-ah. C’mon.”
We had quite a parade among us. I drove the animal wagon, Magpie drove
the big float, while Dirty Shirt rode on the musical boiler, towin’
behind Magpie’s outfit. Pete Gonyer, who runs the stable, yelped like a
peevish wolf. He didn’t want no danged circus in his stable. Wasn’t
nobody goin’ to stable lions and tigers in his stable--not if he was
alive to see it.
“Where’s the elephant?” he asks, after we’ve stabled the outfit.
“Scenery Sims went out for a ride,” says Dirty Shirt.
“On the elephant?”
“Right on to him, Pete.”
“Took nerve, didn’t it?”
“All he had. You better feed them lions and tigers.”
“Feed ’em--what with?”
“Listenin’ to ’em right now, I don’t reckon they’d be particular. Mostly
they eat dead horses.”
“I ain’t got no dead horses.”
“Well,” says Magpie, “if them two cats git loose, you will have. Them
things are attached by the law, and it’s up to you to guard ’em with
your life.”
“Thasso? Huh! This place gits locked up right now. I’ll move out every
danged bronc in the place--and let nature take her course. Guard ’em
with _my_ life? Who the hell is takin’ liberties like that with my life?
If Scenery Sims wants these here animiles guarded, let him quit lopin’
around on a elephant and take care of ’em hisself. Them is my
sentiments.”
“He’ll prob’ly be mad at you, Pete,” says Dirty Shirt. “You better be
here and let him stable the elephant.”
“I’ll put them broncs out in the corral, and I’ll wait a reasonable
length of time. If he ain’t here by that time--well, I’m runnin’ a
livery stable--not a damn’ jungle, I’ll tell you that.”
Them two cats smell horse, and they’re clawin’ at the bars and makin’
all kinds of noises. The horses ain’t noways meek and mild themselves,
and Pete has a man sized job in gettin’ ’em out past that cage.
We went back to Buck’s place and had a drink. We shore needed one, after
what had happened. Somebody suggests that we go huntin’ for the remains
of Scenery and Chief Axlegrease, but we don’t go. Scenery wouldn’t be
the first sheriff of Yaller Rock County to pass out with his boots on.
Mrs. Axlegrease and her sixteen offsprings are perched on the sidewalk
across the street, waitin’ for papa to come back. I reckon they’ve got
plenty faith in his ability to take punishment, ’cause they’re eatin’
candy while they wait.
* * * * *
The Swede is still a little woozy, but willin’ to imbibe, if we’ll buy.
We gave him a slug of alcohol, and he grows reminiscent in Swedish. We
gave him another shot, and he tried to start a war with all of us.
“Ay am strong man,” he declares. “Ay feel for fight.”
And then he turns Swedish agin.
“The elephant busted loose,” Magpie tells him. It took Olaf a long time
to get this idea.
“You say das bull bruck de rup?”
“Shore--broke the rope. He’s gone away.”
“Yeeminy! Das bull is bad. He teep ofer house. Where he goes?”
“Nobody knows. Do you reckon he’d hurt anybody?”
“Das bull like to play. Ay tal you something--” and then he makes us a
long speech in Swedish, his eyes jist poppin’ when he finishes.
“That’s different,” says Magpie, solemn-like. “You get all our votes.
What’ll you have to drink?”
“Ay tak’ scoop from alcohol, t’anks. You good faller.”
About fifteen minutes later Scenery Sims comes staggering in through the
back door. If Scenery ain’t a first class wreck, he’ll do, until we do
get one.
He staggers up to the bar and looks us over, kinda pop-eyed.
“Fall off?” asks Dirty.
Scenery nods and fingers his throat.
“Fuf-fuf-five tut-tut-times. And every tut-time that dud-damn’ elephant
pup-put me back. The la-last tut-time, he pup-put me too fuf-far.”
Scenery’s voice went up so high it broke off, and his chin quivers from
the tension.
“Where’s the elephant?” I asks.
“Huh-huntin’ for me, I s’pose. Can I have a drink?”
“Where’s Chief Axlegrease?”
“He fell off in a cactus patch. Gimme liquor, can’tcha?”
We got Scenery quieted down after six or eight drinks, and he starts
braggin’ about what a rider he is. About that time Tombstone Todd, Yuma
Yates, Hardpan Hawkins and Smoky Potts ride in, tie their broncs and
come in. They look Scenery over.
“What happened to him?” asked Tombstone.
“I rode the Injy rubber ox to a fare-thee-well and never pulled
leather,” brags Scenery. “Match that, can you?”
Tombstone cuffs his hat over one eye and considers Scenery.
“You rode what?”
“That danged elephant.”
“Our elephant?”
“Your--say, have _you_ got one, too?”
“We’ve got the only one there is in Yaller Rock County.”
“No you ain’t--you ain’t got the one I rode. Nobody ain’t got him. He’s
what you might call a independent elephant.”
“Uh-huh. You’re speakin’ of the one the Injun brought here?”
“Yeah, and the one what took the Injun away from here, too, if you want
to be particular.”
Tombstone looks us over kinda meanlike.
“We’re holdin’ Piperock responsible f’r any harm done to that elephant,”
says he. “You see, we own that aggregation of jungle beasts.”
“Thasso?” says Magpie. “How come you own it, Tombstone?”
“Bought out Runnin’ Wolf.”
“We’re up here to take the outfit back to Yaller Horse,” says Smoky.
“Barrin’ my legal claim, you might,” says Dirty Shirt.
“Your what?” roars Yuma. “Say that agin, feller.”
“It’s thisaway,” grins Dirty. “I staked Runnin’ Wolf with poker money to
play with Axlegrease, and Runnin’ Wolf promises me half what he wins.
The fat Injun says the outfit is worth sixty-five hundred dollar, so I
levies my attachment on half of the circus, or asks thirty-two hundred
and fifty dollar in cash.”
“You got any legal papers to prove he promised you half?” roars
Tombstone.
“I’ve got Ike Harper for a witness, ain’t I, Ike?”
“You shore have,” says I. “I heard every word of it.”
“Anyway,” says Dirty, “my paper has been served, and we’ve got the whole
works, except the elephant, locked up in the livery stable, until this
here modest claim of mine has been satisfied at one hundred cents on
every dolla.”
“But we bought the whole works from Runnin’ Wolf!” yowls Yuma. “We’ve
got his mark on a bill-of-sale.”
“Arrest him f’r obtainin’ money under false pretense,” suggests Buck.
“Now, listen t’ me,” says Yuma. “We expected Piperock to do us dirt. It
ain’t no surprise. But we’re here to git them animiles--and git ’em we
will. All the legal papers in the world won’t stop us. Ain’t that right,
boys?”
“Right,” says Tombstone.
“What the hell’s this comin’ in?” grunts Magpie.
We all runs to the doorway. Here comes Eph Whittaker, standin’ up on a
big load of hay, drivin’ like a Roman chariot driver, and his pinto team
on the dead run. They go through town so danged fast that you can hear
Eph’s whiskers poppin’ in the wind; and as far as you can see ’em,
they’re still goin’ high and handsome, and about two hundred yards
behind ’em is that danged elephant, trunk stretched out, tail stretched
out, chasin’ that load of hay. He don’t pay no attention to the town,
but when them three broncs from Yaller Horse see that apparition goin’
past, they take the hitch rack with ’em, and starts off across country,
buckin’ and bawlin’.
Tombstone, Yuma, Hardpan and Smoky take out after their horses, runnin’
and swearin’, while the rest of us sets down on the sidewalk and has a
good laugh. Even Olaf Jergens from Copenhagen got a laugh out of it.
“Ho-ho-ho-ho-ho!” he whoops. “Das elephant hungry, by yimminy. I buy
drink, if I have money.”
It was worth a lot to see them four sinners from Yaller Horse chasin’
their runaway broncs; so we treated the Swede liberally. About fifteen
minutes later Chief Axlegrease limps in from the lower end of town,
stoppin’ now and then to pick out some cactus. He sets down on the
sidewalk with his family, but they don’t pay any attention to him. After
while me and Dirty go over to see him.
“You take circus?” he asks.
“Shore did,” grins Dirty. “Runnin’ Wolf won it from you, and he’s
supposed to give me half, because I staked him to play poker with you;
but he went down to Yaller Horse and sold it to four men down there. I
locked her up ’cause I own half of it, _sabe_?”
“Mm-m-m-m-m-m. Where’s Runnin’ Wolf?”
“He’s down at Yaller Horse or Paradise, prob’ly spendin’ the money he
got.”
“Um-m-m-m-m.”
He gits up, picks out a few more cactus spines, speaks to his family,
and away they go, travelin’ in single file, headin’ down the road toward
Paradise.
“Well, there’s one objector out of it,” grins Dirty. “If we can send
Yaller Horse down the road, talkin’ to themselves, we’ve got a circus.”
* * * * *
Yaller Horse didn’t show up that afternoon, but we wasn’t fooled by
that. We _sabe_ that bunch pretty good. Eph Whittaker was intendin’ to
unload that hay at the livery stable, but he ain’t never come back yet.
Magpie wanted to take a posse and go after that elephant, but none of us
had any desire to hunt elephants.
“That’s Runnin’ Wolf’s share he sold to Yaller Horse,” said Dirty. “Let
’em worry about that hay burnin’ quadruped--we’ll keep the lion and
tiger.”
Well, we had a few more drinks, and Dirty Shirt made me a present of the
lion. I took him. It was the first lion I ever owned. It was almost dark
when we went down to look at our animals. The stable was locked, but we
busted open the back door and went in, takin’ Olaf Jergens with us. Olaf
is sufferin’ from acute alcoholism and a desire for music. The
calli-yupe is in the stable, but there ain’t no steam in her.
“Ay am de calli-yupe player,” declares Olaf. “Ay vant moosic.”
“That’s fine,” says Dirty, who is so cockeyed that he can’t even see
Olaf. “We’ve got to have a musician, Ike; so we better take the Swede in
partnership. Olaf, you are now an owner in a circus. What do you think
of that?”
“Ay am de calli-yupe player. My name is Yergens and Ay am from
Copenhagen.” Dirty tried to bow to him, and hit his head on the lion
cage.
“What do you think you are, a woodpecker?” I asks, holdin’ the lantern
up. “Instead of knockin’ your head against wood, you better figure out
some way to save this outfit. If Yaller Horse comes back, we’ve got a
fight on our hands.”
We went into executive session right there.
“You can’t hide an outfit like thish,” declares Dirty, owlish-like.
“There’s sixsh horshes in the corral, b’longin’ to us, but they ain’t
worth mush. Our visible assets are the lion and tagger. They’re worth
money. Wonner what their names are? Olaf, what’s the names of lion and
tagger?”
“De lion,” says Olaf, “iss Chudas, unt der tiger iss Chessie Chames.”
“That’s a swell name for that pet of mine,” says I.
“He kill seex men,” says Olaf.
“And,” says Dirty, “everybody says seven is a lucky number. If we could
only hide them animals somewhere.”
Dirty produced a bottle, and we all had a drink.
“I’ve got a swell idea,” says Dirty. “We’ll hide them animals in the
grain room, and if Yaller Horse overpowers us, they’ll take away an
empty cage.”
“Ay tank das been goot yoke,” says Olaf.
“You know how to get ’em out of the cage?”
“Sure, Ay know how.”
I dunno yet how we done it, but the three of us managed to wheel that
wagon around and against the door of the grain room, which is a place
about fifteen feet square, built inside the stable. There’s a end door
to the cage, and a way of liftin’ the bars in between the two cages. The
door of the grain room opens in; so Dirty tied a rope to the handle.
Olaf let the lion into the tiger’s cage, before he opened the end door,
and they shore told each other a few things in jungle talk. There’s fur
flyin’ out through the bars of the cage when Olaf opened the end door,
and both of them animals went crashin’ into that grain room. Dirty
yanked the door shut behind ’em, and we wheeled the wagon away from the
room.
I reckon them two cats stopped fightin’ to examine their new quarters,
’cause everythin’ is quiet again. We had another drink, and then we
heard somebody fussin’ with the lock on the front door. Dirty sneaked
down there, but comes back in a minute, and tells us that Yaller Horse
is back.
“Das goot yoke,” chuckles Olaf.
“Let’s git up in the loft,” suggests Dirty, which was a good idea.
Yaller Horse would never look up there, and none of us were capable of
stoppin’ ’em from taking the rest of the outfit. It was quite a job to
get Olaf into the loft, ’cause he wasn’t in no climbin’ mood, but we got
him there.
At the street end of the loft is a hay hole, about five feet square,
where the moonlight shines through. We’re above the level of the hills,
and all we can see is a lot of stars. We crawls toward that hay hole,
and we’re only about fifteen feet from it when Dirty grabs me by the arm
and I came down on my chin.
“My Gawd!” wails Dirty. “There’s a stairway up from the grain room, and
we never locked it!”
Right in the middle of that hay hole stands Judas, the man eatin’ lion,
with the moonlight makin’ a light streak all around him.
“Where de hal iss dat hole we come oop?” wails Olaf, tryin’ to back up.
“You--you know lions, Olaf,” whispers Dirty. “Say somethin’ to him,
can’tcha?”
“Ay don’t unnerstand,” complains Olaf. “Ay vant to git out from dis
place.” Judas turns his head and looks at us.
_Wham!_ The report of Dirty’s six-shooter almost blew my hat off. I
dunno where that bullet hit Judas, but he let out a squawl you could
hear for a mile, and he went back past so fast that he missed the
stairway door to the grain room, and hit the wall.
I got to my feet and headed for the hay hole as fast as I could run, and
Dirty Shirt was right behind me. We never stopped to see what was below,
but sailed out of there like a couple of birds. It’s fifteen feet to the
ground, as the crow flies, but I reckon Ike Harper made a runnin’ broad
jump record, ’cause I came down flat on my back in a waterin’ trough
full of cold water.
It knocked all the wind out of me, and the vacancy was immediate and
soon filled with water. I reckon I was goin’ down for the third time,
when somebody pulled me out.
Everythin’ was kinda confused for a while. Instead of rollin’ me over a
barrel, they seemed to be rollin’ me up in a rope. I coughed out about a
gallon of water and hayseed mixed, and then begins to find out that
things ain’t so cozy after all. I’ve been all roped up by Yaller Horse,
it seems. Dirty Shirt lit so hard that he’s recitin’ the Lord’s Prayer
in Chinook. They only had one rope, as far as I can understand, and I’m
tied up with one end, while Dirty is tied up with the other. There’s
about fifteen feet of slack between us.
“Well, we’ve got the ones we needed,” says Yuma. “It’s a cinch now.”
“We can git in the back door,” says Tombstone. “C’mon.”
“What’ll we do with these two snake hunters?” asks Smoky Potts.
“Better gag ’em,” suggests Hardpan; and that’s what they done.
“Lock ’em in the grain room,” says Tombstone. “Somebody’ll find ’em in
the mornin’.”
* * * * *
I tried to yell, but it wasn’t any use. I wanted to tell ’em that the
grain room was full of wild animals, but all I could do was glub a
little. I knowed dam’ well nobody would find us in the mornin’, unless
they performed an attopsy on a lion and a tiger. My gun was gone, my
hands tied and my voice cut off just behind my tonsils.
Dirty was makin’ a lot of funny noises, but ’nobody paid any attention
to him. They shoved us around to the back door, which they had opened.
The lantern was still lighted. Smoky comes in, leadin’ several of them
circus horses.
“Better unhook that front door,” says Tombstone. “It locks from this
side. We want to be all set to git out of here. P’session is nine points
in the law, and we p’sesses right now. Git them harnesses on and let’s
git goin’.”
We hears one of ’em slidin’ that front door open kinda easy-like.
“Unfasten that grain room door,” says Yuma, “and let’s git these two
jiggers off our hands. No use of me holdin’ ’em, when there’s more
important work to be done.”
I look at Dirty in the lantern light. His hair is standin’ up on end,
and his one loose eye is doin’ a war dance. He’s tryin’ to tell ’em why
we don’t want to go in that grain room, and it sounds like a hawg
diggin’ for roots.
“Oof gloogl oof oof glug mff glug oogle,” says he.
“Shut up, you damn’ Eskimo!” snorts Tombstone. “Open the door, Yuma, and
I’ll see how far inside I can kick these two Piperockers.”
And he kicked me so far inside that my vertebrae knocked a chunk off my
solar plexus. Me and Dirty landed on our hands and knees jist inside the
door, when a cross between a yaller streak and a locomotive went between
us. That is, he went between us as far as the rope would let him, and
then he took up the slack. I went upward and backward and my spinal
column rattled like a handful of poker chips when my back hit the wall
beside the door.
It’s my opinion that the rope broke, but I won’t swear to anythin’,
except that I bounced off that wall and landed with my nose against the
side of the big grain bin. I see a lot of stars that ain’t never been
seen by any telescope, but I didn’t lose my presence of mind. Somethin’
seemed to be sayin’, “Ike Harper, esquire, don’t forget that even with
the lion out there somewhere, eatin’ up Yaller Horse and Piperock, you
are still among the tiger; and while the lion is the king of beasts, the
tiger is the minister of war.”
And that still, small voice made me forget my sore nose and unjointed
vertebrae. But the Harper fambly are fighters from the belt both ways.
The door is shut, but I can hear sounds of conflict outside. The rope
comes loose from my hands, and I gathers m’ muscles--what’s left to
gather--and gits ready for anythin’.
It’s awful dark in there, and I’ve lost all track of direction, but m’
ears are tuned plenty. Then I hears that tiger--Jessie James. He’s goin’
soft, kinda sniffin’, sniffin’ along. I’ve fought all kinds of things in
one way or another, but I don’t _sabe_ the proper attack on tigers; so
this is kinda new to me, and jist about the time I’m tryin’ to figure
out a plan of battle, as they say, Jessie James rubs agin me.
As I said before, I’m plumb lackin’ in feelin’s, but the fightin’
instinct is strong within me, and I took to that tiger like he was m’
long lost brother. Did we have conflict? Ask the man who has took to a
tiger. There wasn’t no furniture in that grain room to hamper us--jist
four walls and some big grain bins--plenty room to show the superiority
of the white race agin’ the striped.
We went around and around that place in the dark, kickin’, bitin’,
scratchin’, bumpin’ into the walls. Sometimes the tiger is on top, and
agin Ike Harper rises above all obstacles and whangs that man eater from
above. We’re both active, as you might say, but I hit m’ head on the
wall a few times, and I’ve got inside information that unless the tiger
has had about enough, the fight is goin’ agin the white race. And about
that time I gits my hand on what feels like a loaded quirt, and the next
time I gits on top, I socks Mr. Tiger over the head with all my
remainin’ strength. It was plenty. The tiger sighs kinda deep, relaxes,
and Ike Harper rolls off on his back, weak but triumphant. Barrin’ that
one wallop with the quirt, I’ve whipped a man eater with m’ bare hands.
I’m takin’ a lot of deep breaths and wonderin’ how much of this is goin’
to be believed, when I hears a weak voice sayin’--
“Ay don’t like dis haar t’ing.”
“Olaf, is that you?” I asks
“Ay am de calli-yupe player,” says he. “My name is Yergens, from
Copenhagen.”
“C’mon down, Olaf. Everythin’ is all right--I’ve whipped the tiger.”
“Ay am down.”
With a hand that feels like it belonged to somebody else, I finds a
match and managed to scratch it on the floor. Beside me lays Olaf
Jergens, minus most of his clothes, both eyes blacked and a long scratch
across his nose. We stare at each other until the match goes out.
“Where’s the tiger?” I asks.
“Ay don’t know,” says Olaf painful-like, “Ay have whip heem, Ay t’ink.
Yeeminy gosh, we have fight!”
“And you let him git away from you?”
“Ay t’ink de ruff fall in on me.”
I tried the door, but it was locked. Olaf wasn’t very steady, but he
followed me up the stairs to the loft. I’ve lost all fear of that tiger,
but my legs don’t track good; so I gets down on my hands and knees and
starts crawlin’ toward that hay hole agin, with Olaf crawlin’ behind me.
He don’t know what it’s all about, but he’s too dumb to ask questions.
We reached the hay hole, when I happens to turn my head, and there’s the
two shiny eyes of that tiger behind us. He must have been hidin’ in the
loft. I sat up with my back toward the hay hole. I wanted to save my
life as much as ever, but I didn’t want to take that fifteen foot jump
agin. Mebbe the tiger had an idea that we had him cornered.
Jist then the floor seems to kinda raise under me, and the stable begins
to shake.
“Yo-o-o-o-o-owr-r-r-r-r-rr!” yowls Jessie James, and he came between me
and Olaf Jergens like an arrer from a bow.
* * * * *
I made one grab with both hands, got me a flyin’ tackle on some part of
that tiger, and went out through that hay hole with such a jerk that I
yanked my backbone into place agin. I let loose in midair and landed
with a splat right on the broad back of that elephant, which is half-way
through the door of the livery stable and don’t seem to be able to go
either way. That was what was givin’ us an earthquake feelin’ up there.
There’s horses and people runnin’ everyway, yellin’, givin’ advice.
“Shoot him!” yells Pete Gonyer.
“Shoot him.”
I reckon they meant me, ’cause the first bullet nicked a chunk off the
bridge of my nose. The elephant is surgin’ and gruntin’, and the old
stable is loosenin’ in all her joints. And then there comes another
sound. The only thing I ever heard make a noise like that was the old
automobile Tombstone Todd won at the Piperock raffle. It had a horn on
it that sounded like the wail of a lost soul. Yaller Rock County forbid
Tombstone from runnin’ it, and he stored it in a blacksmith shop in
Paradise.
Nearer and nearer she comes, wailin’ plenty. Even the elephant stops his
house wreckin’ and tries to pull loose. And then we see it in the
moonlight, and it’s an automobile, runnin’ like a comet, with fire
shootin’ out the rear end. It hit a little culvert at the end of the
street, about a hundred feet from the stable, whirled around on one
wheel, and in less time than it takes to tell it, the danged thing hit
the elephant square in the rear end.
The front end was jist high enough to knock the elephant loose from his
hind legs, and he came backwards with the whole front of the livery
stable, and we all crashed down in a shudderin’ heap. My light went out
then. It had been flickerin’ badly, anyway.
When I woke up, I’m settin’ in a chair in Buck’s saloon. There’s Yuma
Yates, Hardpan Hawkins and Smoky Potts. All three of ’em look like the
climax of a nightmare. It seems as though all of Piperock is there.
Propped up in a chair is a stranger. He’s wearin’ what’s left of a
checked suit, a white collar sticks straight up the back of his neck,
and around his neck is the brim of a derby hat. Both of his eyes are
black and his nose looks like a peeled beet.
“Here’s another one,” says Magpie.
Runnin’ Wolf comes in through the doorway, and he’s shore a downtrodden
lookin’ aborigine. He’s been hit so hard that he’s more bow-legged than
ever, and all he’s wearin’ is about half of a boiled shirt and a twisted
eagle feather.
“Set down,” orders Magpie. Runnin’ Wolf tries to, but he can’t bend.
“What happened?” asks the stranger, plenty hoarse. “I don’t remember
much. I was in that town they call Paradise and I wanted to come up
here. That Indian had an automobile and offered to take me up here with
him. We missed the road and knocked down a lot of little trees, I think,
and some of them must have hit me in the head.”
“The Injun was drivin’ it, eh?”
“I drive,” nodded Runnin’ Wolf. “Go like hell.”
“Where did you git that horseless carriage?” asks Magpie.
“Tombstone traded it to him for the circus,” groans Yuma.
“Traded for what circus?” asks the stranger.
“Oh, the one an Injun brought in here.”
“Traded? Say, that outfit belongs to me! I rented it to that Injun. He
wanted to put on style, and I needed the money. Where are my animals?”
I’ve been listenin’ to all this, but my eyes have been on the back door,
where Dirty Shirt is standin’ with his back toward us, pullin’ on a rope
which extends around the corner. He turns his head and says:
“I dunno where the rest of your damn’ mee-nagerie is, mister--but I’ve
got the lion. Gimme a hand, will you?”
“You--you got the lion on that rope?” yelps Magpie.
“Yea-a-a-ah--and he’s balkin’ on me. Gimme a hand, will you?”
In less than three seconds there’s only me and Dirty Shirt left in the
place. I managed to git to my feet and go wobblin’ down to Dirty, who is
bracin’ his feet, pullin’ awful hard. I slips out my knife and cut the
rope, and Dirty went over backwards against the wall.
I helped Dirty to his feet and we went wobblin’ down to the front door.
He thought the rope broke. We went outside, hangin’ on to each other,
and almost run into Tombstone Todd. He’s got a rope tangled around his
neck and one arm, and he ain’t got enough clothes on to build a
handkerchief.
“Wh-where’s the lul-lion go?” he asks.
We didn’t know.
“It dragged me all over the damn’ town,” he wails. “Tried to drag me
into the saloon, but the rope busted. I’m through. I traded Runnin’ Wolf
my horseless carriage for his damn’ circus, but I take my loss
cheerfully.”
An apparition limps in out of the dark. It is Olaf.
“Ay am de calli-yupe player,” says he. “My name is Yergens, from
Copenhagen.”
“Did you know Chief Axlegrease only rented that circus outfit?” I asks.
“He tal me, ‘You say Ay buy dis outfit, and Ay pay you ten doolar.’ Ay
don’t get no pay. Ay am what you call socker.”
“And,” sighs Dirty Shirt, “when Barnum said that he didn’t jist mean
that they had to be born thataway. Lotsa grown folks git that way. I
lose ten dollars, too.”
“I’ll make that damn’ Injun give me back my gas buggy,” groans
Tombstone.
“If I’m any judge,” says I, “you’ll have to take it out of the
elephant’s hide.”
Next mornin’ they found the lion and tiger sleepin’ together in their
cage, and the elephant eatin’ up all of Pete Gonyer’s haystack; so the
owner paid Pete for his loss and took ’em away. I was glad to see ’em
leavin’. I’ve always been a great lover of animals--but I owned a lion
onct. His name was Judas.
[Transcriber’s Note: This story appeared in the July 15, 1929 issue
of _Adventure Magazine_.]