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,I.?k-?" rv YOU R SHORT STORY

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I ?k -? rv YOU R SHORT STORY ? ? I SWIET JIMSY'.S FAST! BUN. J" His awne was Pete—juat plain Pete-tnie ,an jdeaoenJant of HajD; this destroyer of men's treason and faith 'in humajuty. I was suspicious jof ium from the beginrJ ng. He had a peculiar look- in his eye, and when he smiled and showed va. c'ouble row of ivory that one would give five iyears of his life Tor, you would be t-horoughly tooiivimced that un<kf • n-suh it all was a settled jjpurpwe to rob you of your soul before he left li -ou. I lighted a ciga-r, picked up my bug, and Started) for the depot. "Hold' on -boss 11 I light dis yer lantern, a.nd HI tote dat grip for yoV I waited unt i ,;>.e had lighted his lantern— old. battered sml g^ea-y—and altogether we started. It v- as only a bux-k to the station, and it was half an hour un; il train time, but 1 did not purpose w .-fLvn<i that iiait hotir in that hctel jif 1 coiiid help Z. The memory ot a supper 'that was enough to tIeak the rivets of a cast- ,-iron eoustituticn stiii haunted me-a. horrible niichtnsane—in itself sufficient to drive a uitm 1 anywhere. At the depot I found tit." usual crowd of 1 darky loungers—you always tind them there, j regardless of time or weather..Some sat pToppttd up against the building, others lay .at full length on the .platform, sprawled cut in all kinds of portion- lies-ides the cloot hung Hhe old square depot light, three sides glass land one «jid« tin, with a dirty kerosene lamp inside it. It icO' eta-id that Dumas pere iniierited hi* great powe- of imagination froom hi" negro .i .e-'tors. It must be true, for a d'arky is noth. „• f not 'imaginative, and for y crowd to get togeiher witi-out to see who can spin. ti.e b est yam is an impossibility. This crowd proved ro exception to th; rule, and were in the thick of the irav when we arrived, i did not wart ito cast a damper on their enjoy u; r-itt, so retired into the shadow, seating myself en a t.-u.-k, Vniy ears open, and quietly puffing my cigar I d. Pete joined the crowd, eiviirg down r.n tii edge of (he platform. He raised up his t ■ > u, • r;i, he looked intently at the blaze a moment, is if for inspiration, and set it down iwgtirj Tile subj(-ct under consideration was foot-r&c ir> and a fellow who-e name proved to be Mo-, had just finished celling of a lightning sprinter lie "knowed ober in Loozian-c-i." Pete turned arounrj a.nd cleared his throat. The crowd •*4i?led back in i-e*p»-tful silence—they knew ■ Pere. He gave one quick look in my direction, theon, ttfrnir.g hin eye-; towards his saitL "You call him a runner. Say! You don t know a runner if you seed 'iiu..D d you ebber known Swift Jimmy, who lister pull ol' 151 ohff on de Cotton Belt? What, nebber i; d.J Say, whar you been all your life: nebber been j' outen dis yer town ob Cactus since yo' was i oo'.n, has you?- f "Now, niL'cer. listen to me. T kn^v.vd "T'mmy when I was in, San Ton. e&r iince "Pete." J I was no hiftfrMk 'dat,* raising hi-? hand a.boui two feet platform. "He \va.i a roriinter, he was. Jes wait till I done t-ol' yo' wout jes one ob his rui*» I knows about hid makin'. Dis yer ain't no lie w'at I'se rjibin,' you, kaqe I « as dar and w'ea I sees a thing I se-es i-I. It was one night, just about like this, q? only de moon was a shinin' an' ol' 151 was a bowiin' along about a hundred on' tiurty mile an hoar. De tr .in wal late, and Jim was a settin' her move oloiMf a bit to kinder ketch up like, when all of a- sudiknt Jim 'cpectca dar was somethin' wroti wid one ob de cylinders by de way sits was pound'n' and thumpin'. He always had a s'picion like ob dat cylinder, was I sure de head would blow out ,ome day, so he always carried an exsry one in de cab. "in' sure's yo' bo'n in about a minute, piff, bang, out goes d-j head. "Now what does yo' spose Jim done You spec' he was steared ? No. sail; nary k> ar. He jes .a.y" to Big Jake. who was stokin,' Hera Jake, take hole ob dis yea- ebber w'le I ga.'ó'¡ out an' fixes dat ornery cylinder. Don't choke her down any, jes let her hum along easy like jes like slit's g-oj n' "Wid dat, Jim lie reached ujp an' took down dat: extra head, grabbed a. wrench, kind o' (tightened! up hist jacket like, and Jumped outen de cab. Wat you specks he done then? He knowed w'at lie could do. He jes run along side ob rb engine, put on de new head, and screwed it down tight. Den he took a big chaw of tobacco and trotted along side ob de cylinder for 31 while to see dat f;'1e didn't leak "J stood' stjuare in front of Pete.' I arty, and w\n he found she was runnin' right smooth he jes ju:np.:d back in de cab, pulled iier wide open. nnd rove in Houston on time. "Now, they do tell some big. yarns about Jiruis last runnin', but I cain't tell if dey be all so or not, but I knows dis is, caise I was dar, and seed it myself. Jim tole me how- som."dever, dat this was about de best run he ebber made, kase de road was mighty porely built in them days, a,nd some ob de ties sticking out made it bad forright easy runnin'. Then he drapped his wrench once or twicet, and had, to tile off eta cylinder head in six o' sebben 1>1:(. afore she'd fit. But that was dead easy fo' Jim." I walked out of the shadow, up into the light, stood square in front of Pete, and looked him squarely i.n the eye. He never moved. I tonk out my cigar ea.<—it contained but a solitary cig-ar--a. arood one I had bought in a moment of a.foserj £ -mi)ndted tix.trava.ganee. I gave it to Pete and said nothing. He took it with a smile of innocence that would borrow a dollar at any place, and said: "Thanks, boss."

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