"Well, then, Danny," says he, "how would you like to be an Indian?"
"Medical?" asts I, "or real?"
"Like Looey," says he.
I tells him being a medical Injun and mixed up with a show like his'n
would suit me down to the ground, and asts him what is the main duties
of one besides the blankets and the feathers.
"Well," he says, "this camping-out scheme of mine will take a couple of
Indians. Instead of paying hotel and feed bills we'll pitch our tent,"
he says, "at the edge of town in each sweet Auburn of the plains. We'll
save money and we'll be near the throbbing heart of nature. And an
Indian camp in each place will be a good advertisement for the Sagraw.
You can look after the horses and learn to do the cooking and that kind
o' thing. And maybe after while," he says, kind o' working himself up to
where he thought it was going to be real nice, "maybe after while I will
give you some insight into the hidden mysteries of selling Siwash Indian
Sagraw."
"Well," says I, "I'd like to learn that."
"Would you?" says he, kind o' laughing at himself and me too, and yet
kind o' enthusiastic, "well, then, the first thing you have to do is
learn how to sell corn salve. Any one that can sell corn salve can sell
anything. There's a farmhouse right over there, and I'll give you your
first lesson right now. Rummage around in that satchel there under the
seat and get me a tin box and some corn salve labels."
I found a lot of labels, and some boxes too. The labels was all
different sizes, but barring that they all looked about the same to me.
Whilst I was sizing them up he asts me agin was they any corn salve ones
in there.
"What colour label is it, Doctor Kirby?" I asts him. Fur they was blue
labels and white labels and pink labels.
He looks at me right queer. "Can't you read the labels?" he says, right
sharp.
"Well," I says, "I never been much of a reader when it comes to
different kind of medicines."
"Corn salve is spelled only one way," says he.
"That's right," I says, "and you'd think I orter be able to pick out a
common, ordinary thing like corn salve right off, wouldn't you?"
"Danny," he says, "you don't mean to tell me you can't read anything at
all?"
"I never told you nothing of the kind."
He picks out a label.
"If you can read so fast, what's that?" he asts.
She is a pink one. I thinks to myself; she either is corn salve or else
she ain't corn salve. And it ain't natcheral he will pick corn salve,
fur he would think I would say that first off. So I'm betting it ain't.
I takes a chancet on it.
"That," says I, "is mighty easy reading. That is Siwash Injun Sagraw." I
lost.
"It's corn salve," he says. "And Great Scott! They call this the
twentieth century!"
"I never called it that," says I, sort o' mad-like. Fur I was feeling
bad Doctor Kirby had found out I was such a ignoramus.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account