TITLE PAGE     GERMAN    

MARYGOLD

hat day Bobby Box went for a walk in Black Bell scrubbed, combed and dressed up to the nines like a real gentleman. He strolled down the big wide street, the only one in the town, past the grey wooden houses and booths on either side. Over on one side he saw a sign between shining copper plates: "Barber Shop", on the other: "Post Office"; next to that "Whisky and Tobacco" were on offer; a little red sign struck him: Sheriff Jack Brown... but he didn't really take much notice of that. He wasn't interested, didn't want to see anything. A sense of longing was burning in him, giving him no peace: he found himself thinking constantly of Marygold. - "If only I were a prince or at least a wealthy man!", he thought to himself, "then I would straight away ask for her hand in marriage. But where in the world can she be?" Again the longing for her burned in his soul. - "O Marygold, my star! My heart cries out to you!" he called aloud. - He suddenly stood still in amazement; he saw a tall coloured wall with the words "Boarding-House" inside a big red heart and underneath was a picture of the sweetest dancer, who - Bobby Box rubbed his eyes - bore a distinct resemblance to Marygold: there was simply no doubt about it. Could it be that "she" was to dance here in Black Bell...? Bobby hadn't finished thinking that idea through when he saw a young girl flit past him with graceful steps - there was only such person in the world! Again he thought he must be dreaming, but was already at her side and, poet that he was, he could not but address her in verse to give expression to his great longing:

Oh Marygold! If only 'twere
That I was J. D. Rock'fellaire.
With gold and jewels I'd make free
And adorn you like a Christmas tree!
I promise you, and that's full sure
I'll snatch the hoard from Singapore.
Just lend me now your little mouth
For a quick k . . . . . .

... Yuck! The devil …Darn and hell fires!! Bobby had given Mr. Jim, who had stepped between himself and Marygold, a kiss on his crooked nose. So - oh dear! - bad Jim was there too! - "A drink - quickly! Where is the bar?!" Bobby wiped his mouth, spat and went in through the open door to the counter. Here he was greeted with raucous laughter. From out of rough throats and from behind huge beards rolled a loud: "Hurrah!!" Powerful wild-west figures stood around in groups, in girth and height like giant trees in a forest. Bobby' eyes widened, and in his astonishment he inquired of the next best man: "What sort of person are you?!" "Me? you greenhorn! - Me? I am from Texas!" He shook Bobby's hand forcing him to his knees in pain. - "And I!" a second man came forward, "and I, my boy, am a Mexican! But before we swear friendship over drinks, I first have to - shoot you!" The burly good-for-nothing pointed his revolver at Bobby. The whole crowd roared with laughter. After these unpleasant jokes, they all raised their glasses and Bobby had to pay for the round. It cost him every cent he had. Intimidated and sad over the loss of his cash, Bobby left this chamber of horrors as fast as he could. - He sat down in the big, smokey, dimly-lit hall at a table hidden behind a wooden pillar. He didn't feel good. The milling crowds filled him with unease and the whole room reminded him of a gloomy subterranean cave. He saw - though he couldn't hear - two blacks playing the banjo and still further away he saw with feverish eyes an enchantingly beautiful girl dancing on a high stage in a gauze sequined short-skirted dress - Now it was clear: Marygold was a dancer! Everything around him faded from sight. Once he had come to again, he found himself in the middle of the hall, with an athletic black lady in a sports outfit leading him through the crowd to the stage. - "My darling, box with me for a kiss!" Bobby followed her willingly. So that was it: he was to contribute to the general entertainment. Why not? Marygold had to do that too! He had scarcely got the big boxing gloves on his hands when he heard a whistle go and had already got such a punch on the jaw that he was thrown from the stage like a rag doll. He fell into the folds of a curtain, which became detached from its wooden rail due to the impact, fell down and completely enveloped the poor poet. - He must have been lying there for quite a while when he was brought back to consciousness by a droning "Him-hem-ham-hum". Bobby, who was still under that curtain, opened his burning eyes, and through the threadbare fabric he saw the beautiful dancer Marygold - and behind her that sinister man Jim. - "I won't have it! He is a good decent boy!" Bobby heard the melodic voice of the lovely girl. Jim just repeated: "Him-hem-ham-hum !" and raised his hand to slap her. Using all his strength, Bobby Box managed to free himself and he lept up like a madman to fetch the Sheriff, Jack Brown. But he only got as far as his table, which in his absence had been covered in bottles and glasses, when a gentle hand took hold of his shoulder. It was Marygold, who stood before him pure and white with wonderful wings made of fresh snow. She poured out two glasses of red wine, one of which she offered to him with a happy smile. They clinked glasses, and her beautiful eyes shone like two stars through the garnet-red wine. Bobby Box could scarcely grasp his luck, so unreal did it seem to him. That is why he wasn't in the least surprised to find that he too had wings and that his feet had left the ground and he was floating upwards with Marygold. Higher and higher they went - heart to heart. - "Hey there, the bill!!!!" What's that? A very ordinary mortal bass voice was to be heard down below. Bobby came back from his seventh heaven with a bump. The bar keeper was red in the face with anger and demanded that he pay for all the bottles piled up on his table. But Bobby reached quickly for his hat, stick and bag and flew like an arrow from the hall. Outside at the entrance to the building, behind a wooden pillar he saw a foot resembling a horse's hoof. He lifted up the strange object, hooking the handle of his walking stick in to it. Whack!!! A terrible din ensued! - the foot was that of Mr. Jim, who had been lying in wait behind the pillar. He now lay there on the ground, his bits and pieces scattered around him. Bobby Box got such a fright that he lost his trousers, which fell down around his feet. So Jim had a cloven foot! Bobby was appalled and wanted to run off, but the loosened trousers prevented him. He could already hear Jim's cloven foot approach, the footsteps came nearer and nearer, swelled up to the stamping of a hundred galopping, whinnying horses. In his dire need Bobby hit on a very simple idea: he pulled up his trousers - and then he was alright. He was able to run and indeed very swiftly. In no time at all he was outside in the fresh night air. A gust of wind swirled after him out of that confounded house - it might have been Mr. Jim's curses pursuing him. Bobby crawled quickly into the nearest hole in the planks. Now in safety, he made a neat little bachelor's appartment for himself, covered himself up, fell asleep and in his dreams his hard bed turned into a gently oscillating swing. - Bobby the poet dreamt in verse:

She's really got me running round.
The flames within her eyes abound:
She loves me! Jim is now the clown
Bobby - don't let your spirits down!

Oh Bobby dear, you are a smasher,
Ir-re-si-stible - what a pleasure.
(But don't get smug and make so bold
as to tantalize poor Marygold).

  BOBBY BOX    FOURTH ADVENTURE