Smoke Bellew by Jack London (chrome ebook reader txt) đ
- Author: Jack London
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At eleven that night Smoke was routed from sound sleep by Shorty, whose fur parka exhaled an atmosphere of keen frost and whose hand was extremely cold in its contact with Smokeâs cheek.
âWhat is it now?â Smoke grumbled. âRest of Sallyâs hair fallen out?â
âNope. But I just had to tell you the good news. I seen Slavovitch. Or Slavovitch seen me, I guess, because he started the seance. He says to me: âShorty, I want to speak to you about them eggs. Iâve kept it quiet. Nobody knows I sold âem to you. But if youâre speculatinâ, I can put you wise to a good thing.â Anâ he did, too, Smoke. Now whatâd you guess that good thing is?â
âGo on. Name it.â
âWell, maybe it sounds incredible, but that good thing was Wild Water Charley. Heâs lookinâ to buy eggs. He goes around to Slavovitch anâ offers him five dollars an egg, anâ before he quits heâs offerinâ eight. Anâ Slavovitch ainât got no eggs. Last thing Wild Water says to Slavovitch is that heâll beat the head offen him if he ever finds out Slavovitch has eggs cached away somewheres. Slavovitch had to tell âm heâd sold the eggs, but that the buyer was secret.
âSlavovitch says to let him say the word to Wild Water whoâs got the eggs. âShorty,â he says to me, âWild Waterâll come a-runninâ. You can hold him up for eight dollars.â âEight dollars, your grandmother,â I says. âHeâll fall for ten before Iâm done with him.â Anyway, I told Slavovitch Iâd think it over and let him know in the morninâ. Of course weâll let âm pass the word on to Wild Water. Am I right?â
âYou certainly are, Shorty. First thing in the morning tip off Slavovitch. Have him tell Wild Water that you and I are partners in the deal.â
Five minutes later Smoke was again aroused by Shorty.
âSay! Smoke! Oh, Smoke!â
âYes?â
âNot a cent less than ten a throw. Do you get that?â
âSure thingâall right,â Smoke returned sleepily.
In the morning Smoke chanced upon Lucille Arral again at the dry-goods counter of the A. C. Store.
âItâs working,â he jubilated. âItâs working. Wild Waterâs been around to Slavovitch, trying to buy or bully eggs out of him. And by this time Slavovitch has told him that Shorty and I own the corner.â
Lucille Arralâs eyes sparkled with delight. âIâm going to breakfast right now,â she cried. âAnd Iâll ask the waiter for eggs, and be so plaintive when there arenât any as to melt a heart of stone. And you know Wild Waterâs been around to Slavovitch, trying to buy the corner if it costs him one of his mines. I know him. And hold out for a stiff figure. Nothing less than ten dollars will satisfy me, and if you sell for anything less, Smoke, Iâll never forgive you.â
That noon, up in their cabin, Shorty placed on the table a pot of beans, a pot of coffee, a pan of sourdough biscuits, a tin of butter and a tin of condensed cream, a smoking platter of moose-meat and bacon, a plate of stewed dried peaches, and called: âGrubâs ready. Take a slant at Sally first.â
Smoke put aside the harness on which he was sewing, opened the door, and saw Sally and Bright spiritedly driving away a bunch of foraging sled-dogs that belonged to the next cabin. Also he saw something else that made him close the door hurriedly and dash to the stove. The frying-pan, still hot from the moose-meat and bacon, he put back on the front lid. Into the frying-pan he put a generous dab of butter, then reached for an egg, which he broke and dropped spluttering into the pan. As he reached for a second egg, Shorty gained his side and clutched his arm in an excited grip.
âHey! What you doinâ?â he demanded.
âFrying eggs,â Smoke informed him, breaking the second one and throwing off Shortyâs detaining hand. âWhatâs the matter with your eyesight? Did you think I was combing my hair?â
âDonât you feel well?â Shorty queried anxiously, as Smoke broke a third egg and dexterously thrust him back with a stiff-arm jolt on the breast. âOr are you just plain loco? Thatâs thirty dollarsâ worth of eggs already.â
âAnd Iâm going to make it sixty dollarsâ worth,â was the answer, as Smoke broke the fourth. âGet out of the way, Shorty. Wild Waterâs coming up the hill, and heâll be here in five minutes.â
Shorty sighed vastly with commingled comprehension and relief, and sat down at the table. By the time the expected knock came at the door, Smoke was facing him across the table, and, before each, was a plate containing three hot, fried eggs.
âCome in!â Smoke called.
Wild Water Charley, a strapping young giant just a fraction of an inch under six feet in height and carrying a clean weight of one hundred and ninety pounds, entered and shook hands.
âSet down anâ have a bite, Wild Water,â Shorty invited. âSmoke, fry him some eggs. Iâll bet he ainât scoffed an egg in a coonâs age.â
Smoke broke three more eggs into the hot pan, and in several minutes placed them before his guest, who looked at them with so strange and strained an expression that Shorty confessed afterward his fear that Wild Water would slip them into his pocket and carry them away.
âSay, them swells down in the States ainât got nothinâ over us in the matter of eats,â Shorty gloated. âHereâs you anâ me anâ Smoke gettinâ outside ninety dollarsâ worth of eggs anâ not battinâ an eye.â
Wild Water stared at the rapidly disappearing eggs and seemed petrified.
âPitch in anâ eat,â Smoke encouraged.
âTheyâthey ainât worth no ten dollars,â Wild Water said slowly.
Shorty accepted the challenge. âA thingâs worth what you can get for it, ainât it?â he demanded.
âYes, butââ
âBut nothinâ. Iâm tellinâ you what we can get for âem. Ten a throw, just like that. Weâre the egg trust, Smoke anâ me, anâ donât you forget it. When we say ten a throw, ten a throw goes.â He mopped his plate with a biscuit. âI could almost eat a couple more,â he sighed, then helped himself to the beans.
âYou canât eat eggs like that,â Wild Water objected. âItâit ainât right.â
âWe just dote on eggs, Smoke anâ me,â was Shortyâs excuse.
Wild Water finished his own plate in a half-hearted way and gazed dubiously at the two comrades. âSay, you fellows can do me a great favor,â he began tentatively. âSell me, or lend me, or give me, about a dozen of them eggs.â
âSure,â Smoke answered. âI know what a yearning for eggs is myself. But weâre not so poor that we have to sell our hospitality. Theyâll cost you nothingââ Here a sharp kick under the table admonished him that Shorty was getting nervous. âA dozen, did you say, Wild Water?â
Wild Water nodded.
âGo ahead, Shorty,â Smoke went on. âCook them up for him. I can sympathize. Iâve seen the time myself when I could eat a dozen, straight off the bat.â
But Wild Water laid a restraining hand on the eager Shorty as he explained. âI donât mean cooked. I want them with the shells on.â
âSo that you can carry âem away?â
âThatâs the idea.â
âBut that ainât hospitality,â Shorty objected. âItâsâitâs tradinâ.â
Smoke nodded concurrence. âThatâs different, Wild Water. I thought you just wanted to eat them. You see, we went into this for a speculation.â
The dangerous blue of Wild Waterâs eyes began to grow more dangerous. âIâll pay you for them,â he said sharply. âHow much?â
âOh, not a dozen,â Smoke replied. âWe couldnât sell a dozen. Weâre not retailers; weâre speculators. We canât break our own market. Weâve got a hard and fast corner, and when we sell out itâs the whole corner or nothing.â
âHow many have you got, and how much do you want for them?â
âHow many have we, Shorty?â Smoke inquired.
Shorty cleared his throat and performed mental arithmetic aloud. âLemme see. Nine hundred anâ seventy-three minus nine, that leaves nine hundred anâ sixty-two. Anâ the whole shootinâ-match, at ten a throw, will tote up just about nine thousand six hundred anâ twenty iron dollars. Of course, Wild Water, weâre playinâ fair, anâ itâs money back for bad ones, though they ainât none. Thatâs one thing I never seen in the Klondikeâa bad egg. No manâs fool enough to bring in a bad egg.â
âThatâs fair,â Smoke added. âMoney back for the bad ones, Wild Water. And thereâs our propositionânine thousand six hundred and twenty dollars for every egg in the Klondike.â
âYou might play them up to twenty a throw anâ double your money,â Shorty suggested.
Wild Water shook his head sadly and helped himself to the beans. âThat would be too expensive, Shorty. I only want a few. Iâll give you ten dollars for a couple of dozen. Iâll give you twentyâbut I canât buy âem all.â
âAll or none,â was Smokeâs ultimatum.
âLook here, you two,â Wild Water said in a burst of confidence. âIâll be perfectly honest with you, anâ donât let it go any further. You know Miss Arral anâ I was engaged. Well, sheâs broken everything off. You know it. Everybody knows it. Itâs for her I want them eggs.â
âHuh!â Shorty jeered. âItâs clear anâ plain why you want âem with the shells on. But I never thought it of you.â
âThought what?â
âItâs low-down mean, thatâs what it is,â Shorty rushed on, virtuously indignant. âI wouldnât wonder somebody filled you full of lead for it, anâ youâd deserve it, too.â
Wild Water began to flame toward the verge of one of his notorious Berserker rages. His hands clenched until the cheap fork in one of them began to bend, while his blue eyes flashed warning sparks. âNow look here, Shorty, just what do you mean? If you think anything underhandedââ
âI mean what I mean,â Shorty retorted doggedly, âanâ you bet your sweet life I donât mean anything underhanded. Overhandâs the only way to do it. You canât throw âem any other way.â
âThrow what?â
âEggs, prunes, baseballs, anything. But Wild Water, youâre makinâ a mistake. They ainât no crowd ever sat at the Opery House thatâll stand for it. Just because sheâs a actress is no reason you can publicly lambaste her with hen-fruit.â
For the moment it seemed that Wild Water was going to burst or have apoplexy. He gulped down a mouthful of scalding coffee and slowly recovered himself.
âYouâre in wrong, Shorty,â he said with cold deliberation. âIâm not going to throw eggs at her. Why, man,â he cried, with growing excitement, âI want to give them eggs to her, on a platter, shirredâthatâs the way she likes âem.â
âI knowed I was wrong,â Shorty cried generously, âI knowed you couldnât do a low-down trick like that.â
âThatâs all right, Shorty,â Wild Water forgave him. âBut letâs get down to business. You see why I want them eggs. I want âem bad.â
âDo you want âem ninety-six hundred anâ twenty dollarsâ worth?â Shorty queried.
âItâs a hold-up, thatâs
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