The Galleon, Volume 1, Number 1, December 1924 Page: 16
41 p. : ill. ; 22 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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THE GALLEON
act of brazen treachery that he
was temporarily incapable of
action. He ducked into an alley
to evade his other companions
so that he might be left alone
to thresh out his problem in sol-
itude. He hurried home, mut-
tering to himself and retired to
the seclusion of the woodshed.
There he rolled a cedar bark cig-
arette and between puffs hurl-
ed inaudible invectives upon the
head of his erstwhile friend.
With innumerable shakes of his
fist he declared to himself that
there would be war to the bitter
end, with no quarter.
The next day he made a sim-
ilar declaration to Tubby, con-
veyed in no uncertain language.
Tubby, feeling secretly a little
like Judas, accepted) the chal-
lenge with an appropriate air of
injured innocence. But being
made to understand that no
such thing as a compromise or
truce could possibly be effected
he was secretly relieved but
made it a point to appear out-
wardly calm but defiant. He
frankly confessed that as far as
threats were concerned he was
incapable of fear, howbeit he
hated to see the bonds of friend-
ship dissolved.
"But if that's the way you
feel about it," he concluded,
"why, it suits me all rjght. As
far as bein' stuck on the girl's
concerned, I ain't. But don't
think your ole threats will get
you anywhere; that's the only
reason I'd hang around her at
all now, just to show you I ain't
a coward to." And he turned
and walked away.
The die was cast, the Rubicon
crossed, and the stage all set for
the grand battle of brains and
brawn. Rumor of the impend-
ing conflict soon reached the
ears o fthe fair prize, and while
pretending to be shocked shesmiled.secretly, thereby proving
herself entirely feminine, and
somewhat of a woman despite
her years.
A few days after the first
verbal encounter Tubby suc-
ceeded in closing a transaction
with Mamie Stevens whereby
they exchanged seats and he be-
came the occupant of the seat
next to Celia on the right.
Pinkey was on her left, and
Tubby composed a rhyme
in which he compared their
relative positions to those
of the "sheep and the goats."
Unfortunately the missive bear-
ing these verses fell into the
hands of Pinkey. This was add-
ing insult to injury, he felt, and
was more than any self-respect-
ing human could bear. He
straightway made arrange-
ments for a meeting with Tubby
that lay after school, on neutral
territory. By means of the se-
cret system of note communica-
tion, their respective seconds
agreed that the fight should
take place behind old Turner's
barn in Apple Alley.
That evening Tubby and
Pinkey, accompanied by their
seconds, were seen to leave the
school house together and make
their way in silence toward the
appointed place. A crowd of
curious boys followed behind,
whispering and chuckling as
they discussed the probable out-
come.
This fight, which promised to
be such a brutal one, did not
last over five minutes. Miss
Jones had sensed the impending
calamity and confided her sus-
picions to the principal, Mr.
Husk. He saw the boys leave
the school together that after-
noon, and after allowing them
sufficient time to get the battle
well under way, followed them.
When his bulky form appeared16
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McMurry College. The Galleon, Volume 1, Number 1, December 1924, periodical, December 1924; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth137771/m1/16/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting McMurry University Library.