Torrid Zone Page #5

We got company. Hello, friend.

- Pulled a hitch, huh?

- Yeah, the conductor was going my way.

Nice little park you got here,

if you like bananas.

Come on, vamos, vamos. Get to work.

- You sure cover a lot of ground.

- Too bad it's not vice versa.

Come on, hand over that dough.

- What are you talking about?

- The 300 bucks you clipped me for.

- I never tagged you for a bad loser.

- I never tagged you for a phony shuffle.

You've got yours all off the top.

I just had the run of luck.

I know that kind of house luck.

Hand it over.

I haven't got it.

Haven't got it? Want me to turn

you upside down and shake it out?

Can I stand here and watch?

I haven't got it.

I hid it in town last night.

All right, all right, Samson, put me down.

I'll give it to you!

Needn't strain your mathematics,

it's all there.

You're not gonna use this plantation

for a hideout.

- You're going to town on the next train.

- That's tomorrow.

It's your job to pack her with the bananas

and unload her at Puerto Aguilar.

Well, have you got any more jobs

like that?

What are you gonna do

with me now that I'm here?

If there's a room, you can have it.

If there isn't, sleep outside.

- Done that before. I was a Girl Scout too.

- And remember, no nonsense.

Let the boys alone. If you behave yourself,

maybe we'll feed you once in a while.

I don't wanna put you out.

I'll take in washing for my room and board.

Well, I got a couple of loose buttons

that could stand sewing.

Shirts, I suppose?

Certainly.

Got a picture of that.

Mother busy with her needle and thread.

- See the job I can do sewing up big mouths.

- Wait here.

Nick. How are you?

Fine. Well, tropics don't seem

to be getting you down.

Appearances are deceiving.

I'm way down. Going deeper every day.

Nothing that your first day

back in the States won't fix.

The patient would love

to take Doctor Butler's prescription.

I thought you were on your way

back there.

I'm off on a two-week detour.

Maybe it won't be so rough as I thought.

Detours can be very interesting.

Hey, somebody forgot

to turn on the cooling system.

- Mind if I come in out of the sun?

- It's nice and cool in my cabin.

No, I'm afraid that'd be too tight a squeeze.

This will do.

This is Mrs. Anderson, Miss...

I understand.

The name is Lee Donley.

And I don't think you do understand.

- Possibly not.

- She got on the wrong train.

I suppose you meant to take

the Philadelphia local.

Oh, you know how those

going-away parties are.

Many cocktails and my friends

brought me at the wrong station.

Come on, come on, cut the comedy.

She goes to Puerto Aguilar with the

next shipment. Can you put her up?

Oh, I suppose we can find

room for her somewhere.

Oh, don't strain yourself, Mrs. Anderson.

- I can always sleep in a tree.

- Hereditary?

- You can stay in the spare bedroom.

- Can you get in this hotel without luggage?

I'll lend you some night clothes.

I think we have an old cot,

I'll have it put up.

If you don't mind

primitive accommodations.

No, I don't mind. Up in San Antonio,

I slept on a cot all the time.

The army, I presume.

You should know.

Hello, Nick.

- How are you? Glad to see you.

- Thanks.

- How long are you gonna stay?

- Not enough to worry about.

- You can relax in a couple of weeks.

- Hi, Butler.

- See you at lunch.

- Fine.

- Hey, Case phone you I was coming?

- Yes.

What's the idea,

cutting that fruit you can't load?

- Men are doing the jobs they always do.

- Change some of the jobs.

Take men out of the groves,

put them in the sheds.

I did things as I thought best.

Can't help it if I lose workers.

- Where were you?

- Getting the fruit.

Can't get out fruit without men.

- Should have kept them nailed down.

- I'm not paid as a platform speaker.

- lf they follow Rosario, nothing I can do.

- There's something I can do about it.

Hello, hello, Butler speaking.

I want to talk to Case.

No sense being polite with a guy

like Rosario, he doesn't understand it.

Hello, Steve? Yeah.

Look, Rosario's on the job again.

He's stealing some of our athletes

for his team, 20 of them.

Only one thing to do, go and get him.

Never mind Rosario.

Army will take care of him.

I'm paying you to get out those stems.

But I can't get out fruit

with that guy on the loose.

If we don't stop him, he'll have all the men.

I'm after him.

Listen, I'm still running this company.

Stay on the job and get that fruit moving.

What's it gonna be, Rosario or fruit?

Fruit.

Chico, I think I see an old friend.

Seor Butler.

Jose, what are you doing?

Maybe you would like to call him up on

the telephone and tell him we are coming?

Besides, you could never

hit him from here.

To kill one man is no good.

This is what we do.

We make things so bad, they can't move

a banana off the plantation.

Then maybe, perhaps they get tired.

And they move away.

- Then we get our land back again, huh?

- Si, Rosario.

- But when do we eat?

- Eat, eat.

I think when they put you together...

...instead to give you a brain,

they give you a double stomach.

I'm sorry this is the best we can do.

We're very cramped.

I wouldn't be surprised.

Naturally,

Rita will clean up in here a little.

Don't bother, this looks like a Park Avenue

penthouse alongside that Puerto Aguilar jail.

Well, I wouldn't know about that.

Do you spend much time there?

Oh, just off and on.

I find the people there so much nicer

than some places I get into.

Really? Well, I hope you like it here.

- What's the matter? What happened?

- Get away.

- What you got, a water pistol?

- It happened too fast.

- Somebody acts fast, you gotta act faster.

- Company didn't engage me as a gunman.

What did they hire you for?

The next time you get in my way,

I'll shoot right through you.

That's one way you might hit someone.

- Twelve cases of tomatoes.

- Check.

- Six of beans.

- What'd they grab?

Well, as near as I can figure, twelve rifles,

about 1000 rounds of ammunition...

...a case of dynamite,

and a sack of potatoes.

I'll deliver Rosario to Case

in that same sack.

Took us six years to nail him the first time.

We ought to have him back here in 1946.

Have the guns brought into the main house.

Put your best men on guard, day and night.

- Well, I had my two best men here.

- Where are they?

They helped Rosario pack the stuff off.

Wait till Case hears about this.

You boys know this county around here

pretty well?

- Oh, si, si, seor.

- Sure, sure, we know okay.

Well, then you'd have a fair idea

of where Rosario would be hiding out.

- It's a big country, seor.

- Rosario might be many place.

- He headed for the hills.

- There are many hills, seor.

Come on, come on, quit stalling.

There are only a few places where Rosario

and his gang would hole up.

Now, 25 bucks apiece in it for you

if you locate him.

Rosario is very smart man.

Maybe he knows place

even we do not know about.

Fifty bucks.

It's very dangerous, seor.

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