Page 5 - lw3216
P. 5
"TRAVELIN' ON" 3
on. The eloquence of the preacher, while diametri-
cally opposed to all of their views, is winning out
sufficiently to hold their attention for the time being.
Dandy Allen McGee comes out also and listens with
a satirical, smile on his face, and then suddenly his
eyes go fixed and intent and he half turns and gazes
away, and he sees a stage coach upon a lonely trail
being held up by two masked men. He sees the coach
depart and he sees the bandits pull their masks down
from their faces, one is himself, Dandy Allen McGee,
and the other is Hi Morton. And he sees stretched
across the road in front of the horses a lariat, the
rope upon which the horses have stumbled, and in
this manner caused confusion and allowed the bandits
to have the upper hand in their work.
And then Dandy Allen McGee turns and looks at
Morton, beads of perspiration are standing out upon
his forehead, his hickory shirt is open at the neck and
he is preaching the word of God in such a manner that
no one on earth could doubt his sincerity. Dandy
Allen McGee cannot understand; he is bewildered,
but his face never loses the satirical smile, for Dandy
Allen McGee doesn't propose that any evangelist
shall come into Tumble Bluff and even in the slightest
degree interfere with his profession, and he involun-
tarily utters the words, "Well, I'll be damned."
Among the characters that are assembled, listening
to this unusual happening is a habitue of the Palace
of Dandy Allen McGee, known as "Know-It-All-
Haskins," and when the preacher in an impassioned
utterance speaks of the Lord and says, "We are all
His children," Haskins, resenting the fact that some-
one is attempting to infringe upon his territory, ob-