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Show right, I'll gamble he’s miles from | simply this: He would fight the Seal | river champion, Marquis of Queens Don't blame me, Billy,” remonbury rules governing, and stake his strated Tib. ‘Maybe they're mot so} golG mine secret against the little kid bad as the posters describe. Finger “Chuck gazed at his round face and swore they were absent. Anyway, | bruised jaw in open amazement, and they havn't hurt us yet, .then a leck of admiration crept into Ju then Chuck himself strode | his little black eyes. And it seemed through the gang | to me as if he were pitying Tib in his ‘It shall be so!’ he Then in quaint English he asked ! savage fashion. what we wanted and why we wanted | cried, in his deep voice, that his it. Tib artlessly said we were looking| grandsire’s blood could not rob of its for gold and at that the big misnomer| rumbling, chesty intonation 1 } and gave an order |} d Gis t eeth “*This is to be on the square?’ in » his squat fol] wers In a second | siste4 Tib. we were flat on our manly backs with| “Chuck reminded him he would still our ρος kets turned inside out. When retain the secret if cheated. Then he they struck our treasure-trove J grew serious and faced his followers, thought they would succumb to unand swore by tveir Shaman that the whe anger while Chuck, mill was not to be a double-cross one lancing up and dow n, bellowed for ut “I could see he was crazy for a go, and realized he had probably had but | to tell where we had found color. refused until we had come to little chance to practice. “Tib touched his jaw and shook his some agreement as to our safety, whispering to me that if we could only | head, and said he would enter the ring dally with Father Time for two or | on the morrow. While the chief was three days the relief expedition would | disappointed, he immediately sent In probably find us | some stew for us to eat and someoil ‘‘After we are dead,’ reminded Tib, to rub Tib’s bruises. You see, he softly, ‘you'll never know.’ | didn't want the fracas to be too easy. | || This struck the half-breed as be- ] He wanted to cherish and foster his ] ing closely related to exact truth,-and | opponent so as to have it interesting | Meanwhile we went to work. Tib had he reluctantly put up his toy and ordered some of his babies to tote us a giltedged memory and easily re | into a hut As we were shouldered | called all the blows so faithfully rea rib stopped short and cried: | produced and diagnosed by our ma‘Hark Hear that, Billy? It's aj} chine before Finzer and his men. I child erying, and a white child, or I} tried to make him let me take his never managed a circus.” | place, for he was old enough to be my Mr. Chuck growled something | father, but he reminded me of my 2- | you | naughty and slapped the old chap’s | cent condition—lung trouble, here.” THAT SMASH ON THE JAW WAS LIKE HAVING AN ELEVATED HIT YOU, face, whereat Tib displayed seven different angry colors, and we were hustled away frem the neighborhood of the plaintive wailing. ‘The missionary’s kid,’ I reminded, in a whisper. “That night our ruddy host visited us again and tried to wrench the TIBERIUS SMITH © 16 His “Mill” with Chuck McBurr ie By HUGH PENDEXTER 13 secret RISTNSeSURSNSBSWSGeasSSaf (Copyright, by Joseph B, Bowles.) “We loafed about Godthaab for two weeks before I could prevai] upon Tib to let the Arctic circle giants go by compels me to insist that had the Wharf Rat led with his right he would have sent the Smasher to the ropes.’ the board, Then we caught a Newfoundiand whaler and beat across to Cape Gridley, where we were to look for any mail that might have been “*Ah,’ sighed Finzer, lamely sparring at his shadow, ‘if one of those lads could only stub up against the Chuck MeBurr outfit and chastenit.’ Brought up by the last boat. “This called for an explanation, and our host described McBurr as a very unwholesome neighbor. It seems his long, lank frame contained the crossed blood of the Athabascan Injun and the worst traits of a white sea captain. Finzer said Chuck’s grandpa was a New Bedford whal-r, when that port was wearing out the water with its many boats, and had lost his ship in Ungava in the early days. Half “Then came the frisk of wind that drove the tub well inside and made it 4mperative for us to tarry in that dread northland for yet another bout with fate, in which, incidentally, Tib was destined to eclipse all Ribby O'Hara and Harlem Slasher records, and make the Butcher's Own, with his sew scissors blow, look like an aged dame working doilies, For it was after we left the whaler in high disgust at erazy, he had refused to return and Tuvak, or the Smooth Rock trading- face the owners, and had joined post, that Tib Cleaned up Chuck MeBurr, the welter-weight champion of the Little Seal river and Hudson strait. A million-dollar baby boy was tribe of vagrants on the Little Seal the gate receipts, and the winner was to take all. a river instead, and ultimately took a wife. One thing the old fellow was strong on, and that was the art of self-defence. Sea captains in his day, of course, had to be ever ready to go “Now, you know, I had always han- to the mat with a mutinous sailor. kered for the boxing game a bit, but Thus, because of his prowess and the Little Seal people's ignorance of the pummelling business, he soon came to be considered the only patent medicine on the coast. Tib, because of his New England up- bringing, had but little use for the sport, and always insisted an angry man in a righteous cause could mace the average pug into oblivion. Yet, despite his aversion to professional bouts, he opened a new vista in fistic possibilities, and was the first man to introduce the sprocket-wheel smash to the shores of Ungava and the Strait. Dear, dear! what a mill it was, and neither of ‘em wore the American flag or talked into phonographs! of the “Naturally he taught his son the game, and so it was handed down to the present polyglot, who now bossed It was his intention to Chuck McBurr wasn't in on the deal snap a series of pictures of the rough the youngster eloped by himself. Say, give us some more of those fights. They're great.’ rugged life, on the side, and profit by them when once embarked in business on his own hook. This machine we had tenderly brought with us from Godthaab on the whaler. As soon as we reached the post, Finzer, the agent, gave us a 22-carat welcome, and when Tib set up his gallery in the long, low house and began squirting on the screen scenes from Central park and Palm Beach, our host could only wipe away pearly tears moan, ‘Man, man, never leave and us.’ This was a great game of Tib’s. With that loyal apparatus he knew he could capture the affections and cooperation of any agent or factor on the circuit and obtain more favors than if he had paraded out a fat salary. It was to them what beads and tin cans are to aborigines, and more than once did we find the move paid for all bother and expense. “And because he understood these when the blows fell be they wouldn't they style him, has led his children up north, why not sneak over to that stream and do some prospecting, he began; and | knew he would have his way. For two days | stood him off, but as Finzer repeated there was no danger, the territory being deserted, | finally capitulated, and we borrowed two men and a boat and ultimately knocked along the coast and landed at the mouth of the river. We ordered the men to drop anchor and await our return, and to send a posse after us if we failed to ring in after seven days. “For the first day we hardly got out Jearnedly on just how a telling jolt contained several scales of the lovely was delivered. When the screen got hazy he would illustrate on myperson, and the spectators quickly decided he invented fist-cuffs. stuff. and Gouger Boys. I thought the gang would go daffy with glee. They kept him working the films slowly, so they could dope out just how each lemon was donated. And the old boy, al- though the pictures had taught him all he knew of the sport, could so adapt “Ἱ confess I deplore its brutality,’ he concluded, apologetically, evading my admiring gaze. ‘And yet candor mistaken for thistle down. And we both observed that he was no novice with his dukes. “What class is he in, Billy? inquired Tib, drowsily, as I tossed on my skins unable to close an eye. ‘Think he must be in the ten-ton class. Thinks he’s a fighter—out of date, antique—rolling guard—I could —' and the old fellow was sound asleep, 5 “In the morning Chuck bounced in and point blank demanded me totell where we had found the flakes. I had no sooner refused than I got a jolt that for causing constellations had a midwinter’s sky backed from the heavens. That agitated Tib, who sprang forward, only to be measured beside me by a neat left hog. I was so angry I shed a few vain tears. There is something so extremely humiliating in a man’s saucy fist. ““No cutting,’ he grinned, turning to go. ‘But lots of times I do this with these,’ and he admired his huge pads proudly. “After he had left us, Tib collected his head together and tried to think. ‘How was that solar-plexus blow given?’ he suddenly asked, “*Why,’ I groaned, nursing my jaw, ‘he simply uncoiled his arm and thumped me.’ “Νο, no,’ said Tib, pettishly, Ἱ mean in the picture we were showing blue-eyed, white-haired, splendid boy wrapped in furs. Lord, sir! His hair and eyes showed me at once he was the missionary’s kid. “Tl teach him to accept my challenge,’ muttered Tib, throwing off his coat, rolling up his shirt sleeves, and yanking his belt up another notch with a real professional air. ‘Why don’t he go and get a reputation be- a ; o eh) RS Chief Chuck McBurr WasStill Clinging to the Ropes. Finzer, where the man with a head throat getting a bit choky, as I picked up the head of Tib’s little hammer, which some elf had broken in driving the stakes. ‘Mr. McBurr, welter-weight “champion of the Little Seal. Mr. T. Smith, the Vermont Passicn Flower, Who has licked everything on two legs, no matter how old, between the tropic of Capricorn and Pittsburg. Ready eyes watering anger. “‘Ashamed of you,’ ing nimbly and sparring at the center avoiding a rush and ducking to the ropes. ‘This seems on the square, and I won't lose the babe by fouling.’ And he nearly lost his block by pausing to kiss his bleeding digits to the “When I was young it was a simple rushing, clinching pastime, with only the ear and eyebrow hold barred. And what was that hook the man with the freckled legs operated so neatly in folio number six” him, Tib,’ I groaned, my he mumbled, business,’ I snarled, as my jaw gave a jump. gather new cunning, and for the rest sick of this fighting ‘Ain't you got enough?’ “Never, my child, he cried, softly but firmly. “Watch me.’ “And hang me, sir, but if he didn’t walk to the exit and begain calling Mr. McBurr a variety of undignified names in the trappers’ patois. “The heathens speedily gathered around, awed by his hardihood, and two “I told him, and the third round opened with my patron receiving a present on the side of his jaw that quickly puffed up to the size of a South African diamond, but in the rush that followed he worked the “That moment of tenderness was the bridge of his nose. those rasping, of the round managed to escape serious damage. “Rush in,’ I begged, as he sat in the corner and I rubbed some of] on his knobby forehead. ‘Infighting, number five pictures, remember,’ I whis- pered. “He winked his uninjured eye slyly, It was one of irritating moves that bring tears, and the double-crosser had to back up. “‘T'm almost too old for this game,’ growled sobs. kid. The blow was a left hook and ‘yrred him badly, sir, but after he had caught the kid’s eye and made him chuckle and crow and try to jump from the old hag’s arms, he seemed to “‘T'm dead Tib, rubbing the pit of his stomach. “What was that hook the Spider used?” near his undoing. For the youngster grabbed his crimsoned fingers with all his tiny strength and wouldn't let go. And Tib, despite the fact Chuck was now up and doing, with a heart to make him look like a minced ham, would not yank rudely away. As a Tib walking with a catty, hunching result they clinched, and Tib got a step he’d copied from the moving picstinger on the side that nearly laid tures, you would have felt a tnrill of | him low. I called time repeatedly, joy. but the chief was thoroughly inflamed “‘By good rights he ought to cut a now, because of the elbow hook, and foot off each arm,’ observed my man, would not break so long as be thought as he ruefully eyed the other's enormhe was winning. Then the kid took ous reach, nicely demonstrated when fright, his foolish baby mind instinche advanced his immense paw and coyly concealed Tib’s dimpled palm tively telling him the two men weren’t acting polite, and he sent up a shrill from view. howl you could hear even above the “Then in a second they sprang apart, and the big fellow feinted for guttural clamor of the on-lookers. “When Tib heard this quivering the heart and snapped a dirty left at pipe he struggled like a madman, and Tib’s brow. Tib dodged, but the brawny knuckles barked his right eye gave Chuck the edge of his hand on “‘Kick Tib, his breath coming in deep groan, and his children howled in horror. “‘One, two, three,’ panted Tib, standing over his foe and accompanying each count-out numeral with a trem bling sweep of his fat forefinger. “Ὁ wow! ow!’ groaned the heath- ens. “Four, five,” continued Tib, firmly. ““Q wow! owee! Shaman! O-u-g-h!’ wailed the flat-faced audience, praying in vain to their totem poles. “Da, da, da,’ gurgled the baby, as its custodian rolled it into the ring so as to gain freedom of motion to beat her head against the hideously carved wooden pillars. ““Six, seven,’ added Tib, remorselessly, stooping quickly and picking up the crowing purse. “Paster, faster! Give him the count in a rush!’ I screamed, entirely losing my head. “Bight, nine,’ the old chap called, now counting more slowly in rebuke to me, thus giving the prostrate chiet a fair chance to rally. “And the tribe, thinking he was pumping more evil-spring tonic into its leader, began supplicating him with a medley of sounds to quit his magic. “*Ten—and out!’ cried Tib, hugging the baby close. “Down and out! Hooray!’ I yelled, eutting an intricate pigeon wing, much to the kid's felicitation. “‘Out?’ groaned Mr. McBurr, thickly, staggering to his feet. ‘Say, white man, what did it? What brought the darkness?” And in awe and with something akin to reverence he light- ly stroked the cluster of horns on the top of his head. For the trio of blows had caused as many little mountat peaks to push up the coarse, bined hair. i ““Big medicine,’ replied Tib, setting the baby on his tired shoulder απᾶ jumping over the ropes. bowing head waved them back. ‘Let Seal until we found the men and the inches from his head in an effort to locate his ear. My heart sank as I counted his bruises, and I could have on the scene of his downfall. the only time Tib ever shied his castor was about to lave his hands fn Tib’s forth showing hammer-head in my side pocket, and, blood when the old sport called on how hardy he was by delivering stamping-mill blows on his chest. The minute Tib stepped to meet him the inspired, I whispered, passing it over with wizard skill: ‘Nail him, It just skirts, ‘Chuck is away from home, all projected ing but trying to keep clear. | boat. I looked back once and saw ““Break away!’ I yelled, trying to | that Chief Chuck McBurr was still dive between them with out-stretched clinging to the ropes of the ring, while arms, Quite like Spike McDougall in his children seemed intent on packing the pictures. But it was nearly two up and moving away. Maybe they minutes before I could get them apart. were deserting a leader whose medi“‘He'll never fight square again,’ la- cine was so weak, but it was almost mented Tib, tenderly feeling eight | pathetic to see e Dig man lingering wept for the jolts he had received. Then my hand hit against the small him to tarry in his immediate footsteps and listen. Tib’s proposal was hammer-head patron led the way down the Little Chuck had been walking back and narrowed and a galaxy of ugly squaws formed a menacing fringe on the out- The from the fist for an ineb. Chuck simply rolled over on his side with one and scratching, with Tib doing noth- ealled admirers, thick-thatehed cranium, not once, but thrice. chief let out a bellow and began fighting like an octopus, kicking, biting, Chief Chuck on the canter, and he his “For, just as Chuck sank almost to one knee in letting drive his sinewy left, Tib sprang two feet into the air and swung his terrible, battling right in a complete circle and brought it down, palm outward, squarely on top of the astonished, barbarous slugger s them all go. Methodist! Big medicine!’ he muttered. ““Owee! owee!’ coughed the triba “And with the tot in his arms my Of course the harangue soon brought before blow that lamed his shoulder for @ year. fat lips, and then smashed in one between the eyes that you could have heard reecho over in Greenland. The banks until we struck some falls we “Oh, yes,’ I lamented, as the circle Seal Shaman overstepped any Methodist by several yards. And cracking his heels together to show he was still in fine fettle, he rushed to drag Tib from his corner. It was at this critical point, sir, that Tib delivered his famous sprocket-wheel swing, the “The spectators instinctively started doubtless could scccp it out in hunks. Champion his mind a bit and protest that the to stop us, but Chuck, being a square sport, once the battle had been fought, hung dizzily to the ropes and with tossed another kiss to the kid, and I two. “One of his henchmen speedily brought him a case bottle of cheap rum, and after swallowing the greater portion of this he began to change wholesome every round. But wait, I'll teach him who's holding big casino.’ “In the next six rounds he uppercut his man twice, laying open both squaws began chanting his requiem. round “When he staggered to his feet he lurched to Tib with open hands, and sorrowfully and carefully examined the death dealing knuckles. Then he shook his head gingerly and croaked: ‘Big medicine. White man’s Shaman is great spirit.’ “I'm a Methodist,’ said Tib, grimly, keeping this brass knuckle from all human ken. “‘Methodist big medicine,’ repeated Chuck simply, walking back to his corner with a slightly swollen, erratic gait. ‘Dam big medicine.’ ‘And that rogue acts more un- Tib said if we'd only follow the for sir, Tib the elevated hit you. And the mob, always having believed himinvincible, couldn't understand it. up his right arm. “"Time.’ “And, say, sir, if you could have seen those two midgets mince towards each other on their tiptoes, in passing, and the crowd jeered and rocked back and forth in delight. Well, see, | with the hammer-headwas like having much pleasure. ‘Time!’ I yelled, my You had been unable to really injure his iron frame and bullet head heretofore. He had made him smart, had pestered him, but he hadn't really weakened him any. That smash on the jaw point of his sturdy elbow just under the ear. Really, sir, it would have| been more humane to have struck Chuck with a spike-maul. He rolled and writhed in ageny in his corner, trying to corral his wind, and Tib, throwing out his panting chest, ig- | nored his opportunity to finish the brute, and instead walked in his cocky gait to the ropes and reached out a trembling hand and patted the kid's white hair, Mountain with some physical-culture stunts. ‘It’s so different,’ he observed, duckKe-thump! size of an orange. gave the Seal river belt-holder the | Green sir, the smack of that blow cut me to the heart. I simply couldn't bear to see the dear old boy cuffed. ‘Ah, would you!’ Tib made a little deprecatory bow and the crowd grunted in anticipation of meeting the Cannon Ball?’ arms. ‘*Soak him!’ I howled, dancing up and down, and suddenly the bunch flew iuto two pieces, and each piece finally quieted down and resolved itself into a man. Tib was the man standing “"I feel kind of cheap,’ he grinned, feebly. “But, dear, dear! if you only could have seen Chuck! He sat perfectly quiet, gazing abstractly at a tree, only moving to cautiously place his hand on his jaw. And the astonished crowd saw the swathy flesh puff out to the “And I stepped into the corner and called the names of the fighters, and fore like a bean knocked out a tall, angular shrimp.’ “Ll explained listlessly, and was annoyed when he began going through pole. and hook, and the funny part of it was he thought it was on the level. He had ducked under Chuck's crouching guard and had sent a raking right from jaw to ear, and then, in some outlandish way I never understood, he “This spiel struck Chuck as being good, and he grinned appreciatively, while Tib bowed gravely and limbered m? vA i “Chief Chuck now lunged forward, not waiting for the word. His eyes were bloodshot and seapsuds flecked his mouth. I could see he had disearded all frills and fancies and meant t plain, ugly business. In a second they were a revolving wheel of legs know—and I had to admit one good punch in the chest would lay me away to get dusty. Then I stocd on a bale of furs and played I was the nut-brown champion, so that he could get used to the chief's height, while he hopped about like a rubber ball and did some fearful contortions. While I didn’t belleye he could ever lick Chuck, I hoped he would scare him to death by his maneuvers. ‘He won't make my An Ensemble of the Most Villainous weight,’ be declared, ‘but if I’ve any Apologies for Bipeds. friends tell 'em to place their money smiled on the gurgling, crowing gate on me, for I'll annex that baby.’ receipts, he adopted a crouching style| “That night I rubbed him in oil, and and got Tib over the left eye and he went to sleep early. Chuck kept below the belt before I could sound the gang quiet outside our dormitory, the gong. and we were not disturbed until late “The last drive hurt my man like next morning. When we stepped out | sin, and I was mad clean through at into the sunlight the scenery impress such rank play. Byrights he had lost | ed me as being out of joint, For in the joust by fouling. Waltzing over | the midst of the Seal river's grand to him I told him to eliminate that old stage settings was a roped arena that looked much like a parcel of the | kind of dirty work or I'd give the deBowery. And about it was a sea of cision to his opponent, but he grinned sardonically and, spitting out a tooth, flat faces, all eying with admiration made a playful lunge at mychin. the husky build of Chief Chuck. And ““*Look out, old chap!’ I warned, he, despite the keen air, had been scuttling back to my panting nonprompted by some New Bedford corpusele to strip to the waist, quite in pareil. ‘He’s so mad he'll do all kinds the approved pug style. Near our of crooked work to down you.’ “‘Guess it was an accident,’ gasped corner stood an old hag holding a for the first go.’ Tib to yearning to discover their lode. ‘Now that this Chuck, or whatever himself to our host's humor as to rant tween different celebrated Chickens wn- “It was Finzer's chance remark about the gold flakes, mined by the tenants of the Little Seal, that set of sight of our boat, so intent was Tib examining every bit of ledge and tampering with every bowlder with his hammer. But we didn’t find enough gold to fill a tooth. For the next two days we pressed inward rapidly, and one night, while making coffee on a little island, about as large as your hat, and reached by jumping from rock to rock, | made a big hit. The island was apparently the butt-end of a gold mine. In fact, it needed no geologist to see we'd made a happy haul. Almost every layer of ledge, facing up stream, that I jerked loose men and had anticipated meeting them, he had waived his hostility to the bruising pastime and had trotted along three or four six-round goes be- our “*Taken all together, they are a bad combination, all right,’ declared Finzer. ‘Several of our boys who had stolen up there to find out where they mine the gold they sometimes bring collect a few of my men and run them out. Only last night my best hunter was telling me the missionary at Tuvak had lost his one-year-old boy—been kidnaped, you know; and if and from the tribe. odds and ends he failure to snare a side issue he had faithful old picture made him president of Arcate. lode an intimation that here to swap for rum, tobacco and “But let me hark back and not gunpowder have forgotten to return. spoil the finale. The circus manage- Chuck's people are not at home now, ment had given Tib carte blanche tay but when they return I am going to pick up whatever could in event of giant, and as a brought along the machine that once lost willing bosoms. ‘If you don't tell, 1 am to whip you each day with these,’ he said, thrusting forward two castiron palms, each as large as a seal's flipper. Then he made a few savage passes near our respective heads as “Ἱ hate to be so low and ornery even in this kind ef a mill,” he re monstrated, palming it with all his old16, parlor-magic grace. Remember the tow-head,’ I urged. Gimme it,’ he growled, forgetting he had ady made it disappear champ’s long steel arm shot out like a trip hammer; but, dear, dear! the way Tib bobbed under and around it 1 and sank a pudgy fist into Chuck's erue. face, and followed it uf with a two-ton blow over the heart, sim Σ swept ‘em off their feet, sir. The hags began to yewl, and the men threw up their hands to the totem poles beseechingly and asked of their gods why this was thus, and Chuck went to the ropes. Oh, no, he wasn't tinged with ven em when he got up and came gliding towards Ruitland’s Pride with long eatlike steps! You see, he saw his laurels would wither if he suffered many more jolts like that, even if he ultimately won out by sheer strength His game was to finish Tib easily and gracefully, and when I yelled, ‘Hurrah for the Green Mountain Tease!’ and fits the grasp.’ “And although we never went back for the gold, and although that was into a ring, he always regrets he had to use the hammer-head, until | re minded him of the boy baby kicking up his heels in his father’s home in. Tuvak, ᾿ |
