66 SCRIBNER'S MAGAZINE VOL. LXXXI JANUARY, 1927 NO. 1 One Razor-Strop-Sixty-five Cents BY JOHN W. THOMASON, JR. Captain U. S. Marine Corps, U. S. S. Rochester; Author of "Fix Bayonets!" etc. ILLUSTRATIONS BY THE AUTHOR PEAKING of life and that mail. Razor-strop worth sixty-five death and why men cents. Razor-strop belonged to one of do what they do," his bunkies, who'd written to the States said the sun-dried for it. Don't know why Jones stole it. captain of Marines, on Saw the package in the mail and just took sick leave from the it. A few days later, the bird it belonged tropic station, "I'll to saw Jones using it and put in a claim. tell you a story. Went to Slosson, he did, and accused "There was a fellow named John Paul Jones of stealing his razor-strop. Jones, who came to my company from the States on the first draft last year. He was starting his second hitch, and he was a clean, well-drilled bird, very good-lookin'. A fine soldier; knew his stuff: N. C. O. material. I liked him. Sent him up to Cieba, where my teniente, Slosson, had an outpost platoon. Our outpost chaps are hand-picked, you know. "He was up there quite some months country was quiet-I forget how long. In those days they didn't have radios and movies and such, on outpost, the way they have now. It was right dull, especially when the natives were behavin'; but most men stood it. This Jones came down to Santa Cruz del Sur, which was my headquarters-and also the colonel's -and the place we had our rifle-range for his annual target practice. Outposts send in one or two men at a time they shoot for record and go back. Get extra money for qualification. The day this Jones went back a mail-boat was in, and we gave him the mail for his detachment. "Private Jones-I had it in my mind to make him a corporal-fact, I was sending a chit to Slosson to prepare him for examination stole a razor-strop out of "Now, Lieutenant Slosson was a careful chap-didn't want to do anybody an injustice and he had Jones up to explain. Jones says it's his strop. Said he bought it while on range detail in Santa Cruz del Sur; said where he bought it, and how many pesos he paid for it. The other fellow was equally sure it was his, and showed a letter from his folks sayin' it was being sent. Both being men of good repute, as they say, Slosson couldn't get any satisfaction out of it. So he turned over to his sergeant and came, twelve hours on horseback down to Santa Cruz, to see if Jones's story about buying it was true. "While Slosson was gone, Jones stole the lieutenant's personal gat little .38 automatic-and all the ammunition Slosson had for it. He stole a .45 caliber service automatic from the property sergeant, with several hundred rounds of ammunition and some spare clips. He stole a fast little dun stallion that belonged to a thrifty hospital corps man in the detachment, and a new saddle from somebody else, and fixed himself up generally. Then he took to the hills. Stealin' from the inside is mighty rare in the Copyrighted in 1926 in United States, Canada, and Great Britain by Charles Scribner's Sons. little place and taken his wife. His wife was a pretty Andalusian woman-pretty as they go down there. All sorts of changes occur to your ideas of beauty if you stay too long in those countries. She was rather pretty, though-I'd seen her. Luis said this soldado was there like he was going to stay, and were the Americanos goin' to take steps? Luis was right mad about it. "Slosson took steps muy pronto. He sent a squint-eyed gunnery sergeant named Mahan and three privates to get John Paul Jones. The gunnery sergeant, riding hard, came on the place late the next afternoon. (Palm-thatch shack, you know, in a little clearin'.) Mahan rode up to the edge of the cover, and hollered to Jones that he knew he was insidelittle dun stallion was grazin' staked out in cover, disposin' his men so as to command all approaches, and waited for dark. Fired a few shots through the roof, just to show he was there. Besides, he had the woman on his mind. Some time later, Jones, who is keepin' up some small shooting, sings out: 'Hold it a minute, will you, sergeant, and let this kid come out!" And the Andalusian woman comes out and scuttles off in the brush, makin' no remarks, so Mahan said. After that, Mahan fires a few rounds through the shack, just to keep Jones amused, and Jones replies briskly until it got dark. Mahan well and truly reported the number of rounds fired by all, verifying same from the empty brass, when he got back. I forget how many. "When it was dark enough, Mahan's merry men closed accordin' to plan and |