Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-02-21
By MAC LYMAN
Copyright 1854 by Mac Lyman
CHAPTER TX

towel ana neaQeQ Tor the latrlne. ana IN
minute I heered somebody say something to
him and him say something back, and then
,heered all the talking and laughing and
Scufding around and things. So got up of
the bunk and went real slow and easy, kind of
tip-teeing back to the latrine, and when l
looked in to see what they were doing, and
when I seen what was going on. figgered !
couldn't have worked It out no better if
had thought ON. IL all night long. They had
Ben down under one of the sinks and had the
water running ready to stick his head under
it with two or three of them holding him
and. Ben rassling around trying to get away,
and everybody yelling and everything. So it
looked like pretty good thing to bang them
around for little bit. and / felt real good
about it.
Il went about closing the door real easy
and then closed up the windows, and none
of Them seen me until let the last window
down with a bang. Then Irwin turned around
and said, We'll. if it amt ole plowboy" and
laughed and took on so that the others begun
to do the same And then Irwin said, What
are you doing in here, plowboy?" and some
stuff like that, but then I give him a pretty
good scowl and didn't laugh or take on like
fool :the way ! had been doing, so l guess
then they seen something was different They
kept taking on some. with Irwin still in it
more than the rest of them, but l scowled
zeal hard again and took a couple of steps
toward them. but think they really knowed
better by that time. Irwin kept saying Look
at ole plowboy," and trying to joke about it
but the smile had long gone of his face and
he had begun shifting his eyes this way and
that Anyway, they let Ben go about that
time, and I kept looking at Irwin until all Of
a sudden he drawed back real quick and
said. You better watch it, boy. there's six
of Us here and =" but he didn't get to finish
because l tapped him one with my left so
ne quit right in the middle of it as his head
popped sideways and backward and he kind
OF wobbled across the room and dropped
over sink and didn't get up no more for
a while.
80; No Escape Allowed
So then it looked like they was all going
TO make a break for it, but I managed to
stop them all right, though. I grabbed the
first one that got to the door by the shoulder
and swung him around and busted him a
pretty good one; harder than meant to- so
that he kind of sailed across the room and
banged up against the wall and slid down
and set there for while. And about that
time ore of them climbed on my back so
that just jumped up in the air and come
down on top of him and heered all the air
gush out of him. and then / seen old Irwin
getting back up again So / stepped past
the others real quick and swung one at his
Jaw, but not as hard as I had the other
one because l didn't want him to be Just
lying there the whole time: he went back
ward and tipped over one of the bowls and
ended up in pretty much the same position
he had the first time.
So after that everybody joined in just
as spunky as you could ask and it turned
out TO. be pretty good fight after all, l
went around with the others a little bit and
finally hemmed couple of them up in the
corner and acted like l was going to hit
ons that had his face covered up with his
hands. but lodged aside and hit the other
one instead. and then had to chase the
other one for the door again. I grabbed
him by the foot and give it snatch and he
went UP and banged down on his stomach
and l picked him up and tried to see how
far could chunk him and managed to hit
the wall on the other side of the room. But
that busted one Of the mirrors and made
good bit OF noise, and things kind of dwindled
OFF bit after that. Irwin got up one more
time before it was over and then another
fellow got up. but there warnt much else to
it, except for Lucky over in the corner and
little Ben had MIN all by himself. He was
setting right astradde Of him and was doing
pretty good, so didn't bother with it none.
/ set down and rolled cigarette and smoked
1t until Ben had finished up with Lucky.
and then both of US set around waiting for
LflS1H I'd get DIP again Iittle Ole DtH was
kind of prancing around all that time. too.
.doina his fist i'm and out and taking deep
hrBaths& and things, and he had this big
grim orr bis face so it did make me feel
lot better. aI said. How you doing. Benz"
E" And he kind of fexed his muscles or
what he had of them. and said Fine. Fine"
and it really made me feel good to watch it.
1t had been lot of trouble and some of them
might, be mad with me for few days. and
FSf.- -, and pln
and cigarettes and matches all over the
floor hut it seemed like it was worth it.
iBenayas prancing around like he was a new
man. he was just as proud as he could be and
strutted around like little bantam rooster,
Anyhow. we set around for them to get
up and then opened the door and let them
all go to bed. all except Irwin who still hadn't
come to real good. I told couple of them
to go back and help him along. but they
Warnt quite up to It, so me and Ben finally
had to do it ourselves. Ben warnt able to
handle much more than one foot. but he
done a good Job with that. and we got him
to bed all right. We tucked him in and then
got in bed ourselves. and / felt real COM
Portable and lot better and knowed l
would sleep pretty good hadn't had no
exercise to speak OF for the last day or two
and it was right good to feel wore out for
a change. turned over and guess I was
SaSiefp- IN -FOUR or 0Ve SECONDS dt the ouCslue
H. Anyhow, it turned out that everybody
was pretty nice the next morning and not
really mad at all. l got up early, before
Ben did, and went down to the latrine and
there was several of them in there and they
acted real polite to me- They was kind of
shy at first. though. When I first come in,
this fellow stopped shaving and stared at
me. and / nodded Good morning" but he
just stood there with the razor in his hand
and his mouth open. So reached up to give
him a pat on the back to be friendly, but
time got my arm up. ne give Jump and
ducked his head and dived past me. rolling
up in the corner and setting there's with the
soap still on his face holding onto the razor
30 I seen he was right shy and eased back
away from him and stepped over to one Of
the bowls to wash up, but then / seen this