XX. Read the story and retell it Following the outline given below. Make a list of the words in the text which you could use to develop each point:

THE TATTOO

The trouble began in a gambling house. Greaser, a hot-blooded youth quarrelled with his neighbour, whose nickname was the Kid, and the latter shot him on the spot.

A minute later Greaser's friends were at the Kid's heels. They overtook him at the station, but the young man turned and raised his revolver. He was a good shot. Seeing his revolver, the pursuers stopped, turned and vanished.

The same afternoon the Kid got on a passenger train, and three days later he was sailing to Buenas Tierras, coast of South America.

Thacker, the United States consul at Buenas Tierras, was not yet drunk. It was eleven o'clock in the morning and he was never drunk until the middle of the afternoon. On hearing a slight noise he looked up and saw the Kid standing at the door.

"Good morning," said the young man. "They told me it was customary to call on you before having a look at the town. I have just come on a ship from Texas."

"Glad to see you, Mr. -?" said the consul.

The young man laughed. "Dalton," he said. "But it sounds funny to me to hear it. They simply call me the Kid."

"I'm Thacker," said the consul, motioning the young man to a chair. "I suppose you want somebody to advise you. And, besides, they speak Spanish here and you'll need an interpreter. If there is anything I can do for you, I'll be delighted. If you are buying fruit lands or looking for a concession, you will want somebody to help you."

"I speak Spanish," said the Kid, "about nine times better than I speak English. Everybody speaks Spanish on the ranch where I come from. And I am not buying anything."

"You speak Spanish?" said Thacker thoughtfully. He looked at the young man in silence. "You look like a Spaniard, too," he continued, "and you are from Texas. And you can't be more than twenty or twenty-one. I wonder if you are game enough..."

"What do you mean?" asked the Kid, suddenly rising and approaching the consul.

"Are you ready to undertake any kind of job?" asked Thacker.

"What's the use of denying it," said the young man. "I got into a little trouble in my country and killed a man, I was afraid that some of his friends might try to get even with me, so I thought I'd better leave the place and come here. So you see that I'm game for any kind of work."

Thacker got up and closed the door.

"Come here," said the consul. Through the window he pointed to a two-story white house. "In that house," said Thacker, "an old Castilian gentleman and his wife are waiting to embrace you and fill your pockets with money. Old Santos Urique lives there. He owns half the gold mines in the country."

"You're not drunk, are you?" said the Kid.

"Sit down," said Thacker, "and I'll tell you. Twelve years ago the old gentleman and his wife lost their only child. He was a wild little devil and but eight years old. Some Americans who were looking for gold called on Don Urique and made much of the boy. They filled his head with wonderful stories about the United States; and a month after they left, the boy disappeared. It was said he was seen once afterwards in Texas, but they never heard anything more of him. Old Urique sent men to look for him. He spent thousands of dollars, but in vain. The mother was quite broken. The child was her life. She still wears mourning. They say she believes that her son will come back to her some day, and never gives up hope. On the back of the boy's left hand was tattooed a flying eagle."

The Kid looked at the consul, but said nothing.

"I can help you," continued Thacker. "In a week you'll have an eagle tattooed on your left hand, and then I'll send for old Urique, and when he finds that you have the tattoo mark, both parents will fall on your neck. The rest is very simple. Old Urique keeps from $50,000 to $100,000 in his house in a little safe that a child can open. Get the money. Then we shall catch a ship going to Rio Janeiro and let the consulate go to the dogs. What do you say?"

"It sounds all right," answered the Kid.

In a week's time the tattooed design on the young man's left hand was ready and the wound had healed, and then Thacker sent for the Uriques.

Half an hour later an old-fashioned carriage drove up to the door of the consulate. A lady and a tall man with a white moustache got off and hurried in.

By the consul's desk stood a slender young man with a sunburnt face and black hair. Donna Urique cast a long look upon the young man. Then her black eyes turned, and her gaze rested upon his left

hand, and then with a sob, not loud, but seeming to shake the room, she cried:. "Oh, my son," and folded the Kid in her arms.

A month later the Kid came to the consulate in response to a message from Thacker. He looked a young caballero. His clothes were of the latest fashion and a big diamond shone on his finger,

"Well," asked Thacker, "How are you getting on? It's time you began acting," said Thacker. "What's the trouble? Can't you find where Don Urique keeps his money?"

"Oh, he's very rich," said the young man, admiring his diamond. "There's plenty of money in the house. I've seen it with my own eyes, But you are not going to get it," the Kid said, cheerfully. "And I'll tell you why. The first night when I was in my bedroom at Don Urique's house, my artificial mother came in and bent over me. "My boy," she said, "my boy!" And down comes a drop or two, and hits me on the nose. You see, I had very little to do with mothers in my life and I think that this old artificial mother of mine mustn't be disappointed. She stood it once, but she will not stand it twice. That is why things are going to stay just as they are..."

"I'll expose you today, you... traitor," stammered Thacker.

The Kid rose and, without violence, took Thacker by the throat with a hand of steel. Then with his left hand, he drew out his revolver and pointed it at the consul.

"There is one more reason," he said slowly, "why things have to stay as they are. The fellow I killed had an eagle tattooed on his left hand."

From the outside came a sound of wheels and the old-fashioned carriage of Don Urique stopped at the door of the consulate.

"Where are you, my dear son?" cried Donna Urique.

"I am coming, mother," answered the Kid.

(After O'Henry)

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