Page:Laughing Boy-1929.djvu/193

LAavgHING Boy 181 Chiziai ‘That's far!’ Yes. You tell, where do you live?’ 'T’ies Napornss.’ He drifted to the far end, where the trader sat, | ®<t on the counter, chewi ing listlessly. The man | v=: partly bald, with drooping, pepper-and-salt | Tstaches and a stupid, narrow face. He looked | s=2y and ignorant, not bad. I An unsuccessful dry farmer, he had bought a | 3ccr post, sight unseen, and come out to make &ck money from the ignorant Indians. Some- | a= it didn’t work. They fooled him and exas- [f Peated him until he strove frantically to out- | ==:t them, and that didn’t work either. He had | mc dea of how to attract their trade, nor of how im circumvent their sharpness. It was always IB this. Two men had been there since he Lepeed the store in the morning, making one mcce] purchase, and now none of these others =ed to buy. They just wanted to talk. They uzht he was running a God-damned club. _zughing Boy sprawled against the counter, <ing a quarter against his teeth. His face was us while he studied the ranks of tin cans. f= part came natural to him. He thought idly it was six months since he had been in a store. ws too bad Yellow Mustache was gone. Yel-