OCR Text |
Show x won't." llu turned on his heel and -went to the door . . . rwhinKf. i Zel,e, EoinB Peculiarly. Candy didn't like it Ho kept hearing hear-ing about the citizens of the town holding meetings about him. Miirht Jl ?ev.!erv.i0U8 and then again it might be. One night there was a big town that Candy moved, word had come to him about it. He had ignored the whole thing. Let the people yelp. It would die down. You had to expect these things now and tnen when a place was prospering like Yellow Creek. Ho and Elizabeth had been having hav-ing dinner and talking about how Young Buster was going to be tho finest thing that ever grew up, . nfrday6 Ca,ndy haa "jested, ?h t 8tarted growing a little they d have a tiny Elizabeth to keep him company. ,v,"M,y but you're the talkingest man, Elizabeth had laughed, then gone to her room to rest. A minute later Gold Dust was at the front door. Candy could never remember her words -!,t:- " : I. . x..,.m kX s XV K X " xxY x v j XX s v - ' v S - X LyXXXXX-, - x 1 rv xix x t xv ( V, 1 1 I X Nv xxN , K X V s v i 3 X--W V .-..J PJ, 'That's right. Candy, I uouUn'c change a hair of your head." ' breast. For once, he knew fear-fear fear-fear that he had hurt something'' nagile and wouid never be able to ) mend it again. Hut as lie walked Into City Hgll he saw death staring him la the tace. Brazos had sure taken over He had two guns on Candy as he yelled, 'if you re comia' la here start ticklin' the clouds." .Now Brazos began to strut Oh sure, he was going to put the Candy Man out of his earthly misery mis-ery But first he wanted that light he had asked for at their meeting back in the Placer Saloon. , ligUn' " western style,' he laughed, "with your thumbnail, it you can keep it from shakin . ' Without the flicker of an eyelash Candy obeyed. Once. Twice, Thrice R,tn.ed and h leaped. Brazos- gun was in his hand before be-fore the others could move Then as his enemy tried for his other gun, Candy shot once more in self d!adnSe" 08 Sank t0 flo' ?Ut ?ow. there wa3 another enemy to be reckoned with . . the people They were outside a thousand strong, waiting to take hnrt K0W way. from the fe who w blen blJredmg It so long. Look-!giJthrough Look-!giJthrough the ndow Candy leaders866 VarDer amoa th He had to think fast. If thev SV Ut there'd ba aXnassacre of the citizens. And the boys here fLv,0 r0mJ Were a savage, fighting mood. In his old "con" way he began to talk. "All right boys, limber up your trigger fingers. This is just shooting clay pigeons. Boy will we be famous! They'll be shivering in their boots all over the state. And when that militia comes up to take us they'll be using cannon. They'll have to for a bunch like us." He glanced around. The men weren't liking this talk. "It'll be a great fight till the last one of us grabs his belly and falls on his face in the dirt." His voice quickened. "But this is excitement This is living. Sure. We're not suckers. A sucker works his life away. We shoot their lives away. We're not yella. We won't run just to save ourselves from the militia . . . And all the time he was talking, they were edging toward the back door. Suddenly it was flung wide and they were leaving in open rout NK Adapted from the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Picture by FRANCES BARBOUR CAST OF CHARACTERS Candy Johnson Clark Gable Elizabeth Cotton tana Turner Judge Cotton . . . . v Frank Morgan "Gold Dust" Nelson .... Claire Trevor Brazof Hearn Albert Dekker Rev. Mr. Varner Marjorie Main The Sniper Chill Wills passionately, "till I stop waking up." It was starting with his marriage that Candy really began to go places in Yellow Creek. The citizens liked him. He had given them a mission house and he was on the square. The funny part of the whole thing, the part that tickled him most, was the way he put Brazos to work for him. Oh sure Candy was smart, a realist you might call him. Why go outside the state to hire a guy like that? A lot of little ' SYNOPSIS: En route to Yelloto Creek where there is a new gold strike, Candy Johtison, "con" man without equal, encounters Elizabeth Cotton of Boston. He is nettled by her cool indifference indiffer-ence but at I'eiloio Creek is amused when he recognises her father "the Judge" as a notorious notori-ous confidence man of his own ilk. But Candy decides to keep quiet about it. At the Placer Saloon he runs into blonde Gold Dust Nelson, an old flame. He also meets Brazos Hearn and in a baffle of wits and bullets crests Brazos' poxyer in the town from him. Ambitious to on')v both Yellow Creek and Elizabeth, Candy slips up one night, drinks too much and next morning finds himself married to Elizabeth. Once over the shock he tries to make love to her. But Elizabeth tells him that now after the marriage, a courtship court-ship is in order. That night, Candy comes home to start the "wooing" but while he is outside out-side her door, he discovers that Gold Dust has clipped the sucker mark on the back of his head. In a rage he kicks down the door fhen storms out of the house. odd jobs were going to come up that would look too odd if Candy did them. Brazos was just the bird for that. The elections came off. Candy's men went into office Mayor District Attorney Sheriff . . . everything that counted. And now he moved ahead fast. The gold rolled in from the mines. Money poured into the vice set-ups. The City Treasury grew fat in taxes. Candy invested part of it in a school, a fire house, a city hall . . . anything that would make a flash. He had become a power in the state too. Senators, even the Governor, Gov-ernor, kowtowed to him, came to his big house on the hill to be wined and dined. Sometimes people talked. There were even those who grumbled. Candy paid no attention. He was king of Yellow Creek. Nobody could touch him. There was just one annoying angle . . . the judge. Every time he got drunk, he shot off his mouth about Candy. He went around calling call-ing him a crook, saying how rotten he was. Candy grinned and tolerated toler-ated it. In a way he kind of liked the old coot. They had had a shindig one night, with the drawing room alive with big shots and the next morning morn-ing Candy was surprised to see Elizabeth down so early. Then he noticed that her eyes were big and frightened. She said softly, "Candy, you know you've often told me that you never wanted to start feeling married. Well you're going to have to start at least a little." "Why? Who's going to make me?" "A very tough customer," she replied. "Your daughter or your son as the case may be." Incredulously, Candy cried, "Well, I'll be a ringtailed dinger." He gathered her into his arms. "Honey. Gosh, I'm higher than a kite." As he saw Elizabeth's father in the "outer hall, he beckoned him in. "Well Judge, you got to start acting like a grandfather." For a long moment, the Judge looked at them in silence. Then he spoke dazedly. "So now she'll never be free of vou unless you're in jail or dead." His eyes shot fire for a moment. "Candy I tried to kill you once and when I failed to do it I failed Elizabeth. But the next time just the Idea behind them. The Judge had rolled into the meeting and spilled everything about Candy and the boys. "He was rilin' everybody up," Gold Dust said. "Brazos shot him . . . killed him deader than a doornail." door-nail." There was a thud from the next room. Candy rushed in. Elizabeth had fainted. The next few hours were torture. tor-ture. The doctor came and 'Candy heard that Elizabeth had lost her baby. Then the doctor was saying, "And I'm afraid you're not going to have your wife very long . . ." I All at once Candy had his revolver re-volver out, pushing it into the doctor's midriff. "Don't talk to me like that," he said fanatically. "Don't tell me my wife is going to die. I don't like talk like that. I don't like a man to come begging beg-ging me to kill him." He pushed the doctor through the door. "If she dies I'll kill you. Six times over." Hours passed. Some of the loyal men came into the house. Sniper was leading them. Brazos and the boys had taken over. He were at City Hall. What was Candy goin' to do? Candy never heard them. He wasn't seeing or hearing until that moment when the doctor came out of Elizabeth's bedroom and nodded wearily. "She'll make it now thank God." But a while later as Candy stood over her bed, she looked up at him bitterly, "Candy Dad was right. Long ago he told me you'd never change. And he was right." He put in hesitantly, "I'm sorry about the Judge, Elizabeth. He was a great old guy." He stooped and kissed her. She clung to him and wept. "Yes, your kisses were always your most successful lies. But I don't care Cafidy. I know what you are and what you'll always be. You'll always lie and cheat and steal and I'll hate it but the time will come when it won't make any difference. I'll be hardened to it. That's the way you are, that's what you do to everyone, every-one, even those who love you. You don't change for the better. You change them for the worse." Candy managed to get out of the room with a smile. But once outdoors out-doors he headed for City Hall. There was a cold lump in his Now Candy went to the front door. Contemptuously, he faced the crowd, the "clay pigeons" he had saved from slaughter. He looked up at the city hall. "Move in suckers. It's vacant." He had known, ever since he left i the house that morning that he wasn't the guy for Elizabeth any j more. That was over. He wasn't I any good for her. From now on she had to build her life a new j . way . . . the right way, without I Candy Johnson. He and Gold Dust had arranged : to meet in the Elkhorn Hotel lobby at Pocatello. He was sitting there riffling some cards and a few dropped to , the floor. Then he saw a woman's leg encased in black lace stockings. stock-ings. He didn't look up. "Not interested in-terested honey." "Since when?" He drew in his breath. It was Elizabeth. She was standing there with her suitcase beside her. Now she smiled. "Any law against wives in Pocatello?" Candy started to tell her how he was tired of being married. A guy like himself could never change . . . but Elizabeth Eliza-beth put a stop to that. Softly, she explained that she knew all about what had happened at City Hall. Gold Dust had told her. "Oh Candy, you left because you felt it would be best for me. I never thought you'd change that much." "I didn't change," he bellowed. "You like me the way I am and the way I always was and the way I always will be. You wouldn't change a hair of my head." She laughed and laughed and said, "That's right Candy I wouldn't change a hair of your head." And then, almost in a whisper, whis-per, "You sucker." Candy had heard but pretended he didn't. He tucked her arm In his. Once more his voice was jubilant. jubil-ant. "Say. mavbe we're going to like Pocatello. Come on Mrs. Johnson, John-son, let's go register." THE END. Printed In U. B. A. Copyright) mi by Ioew's 3toc. Chapter Three (.Conclusion) Candy was sitting in the back room of his living quarters at the Square Deal, having a steak and a bottle of beer with Gold Dust There was a knock on the door and it opened violently. "I'm glad," Elizabeth said as she came in, "that I didn't have to break it down." She glanced at the table. "Order me a steak too, and a bottle of beer." There was a silence. Then Gold Dust asked sweetly, "Having a little lit-tle trouble with your husband already?" al-ready?" Elizabeth glared. "In-law trouble with the relations on my husband's side." "Oh!" Gold Dust protested, "Candy ain't any relation of mine. He's just a friend, an old friend." Elizabeth made a heated reply to that, and Candy calmly sat back to enjoy the battle. Not a syllable passed his lips, all through the altercation. He said not a word when Elizabeth finally asked Gold Dust to leave her alone with her husband. Then the door closed after Gold Dust and with a rough sort of tenderness Candy took his wife into his arms. She looked up at him forlornly. "I want to go home Candy." I He brought her close. "You are , home . . ." I She opened her eyes the next j morning, and saw Candy bending over her. He was already dressed and ready to go out. She put her ;arms up. "Candy, will you be there every morning, when I wake up?" He smiled faintly. "If that's how you want it." 'That's how I want it," she said |