The Argo Goes West

38, Hercule at the Mysia

"Where has Dick gone? He hasn't come back from his errands."

Hercule Giraud was walking up and down Wichita, shaking his belly fat. His linen shirt was clinging to his skin with sweat.

Hercule, the head chef of the Argo, decided to procure food locally, excluding high-end ingredients, imported ingredients, and vintage liquor that are not available locally. Otherwise, no number of freight cars would be enough (because the Argo has over 100 men). Besides, eggs and milk must be fresh. Furthermore, there are better foods than in the city. Wichita, for example, had a thriving winter wheat crop, good flour, and canned beef. Hercule was looking forward to meeting the unique ingredients of the land on this adventure. He wanted to use those ingredients and cook them in a way no one had ever tried before. He regretted that the Argo route did not include New Orleans and other southern cities. He wanted to try catfish, okra and shrimp from the Gulf of Mexico.

When the Argo arrived in Wichita, Hercule went to the market for local produce and asked his assistant, Dick, to buy supplies such as paper napkins. (He's a cute boy. Don't tell Claude about him. It'll be troublesome if he gets jealous.) Hercule finished shopping, but Dick never returned. Did something happen to Dick? Hercule has become worried. Has he lost his way, or has he been tangled up with bad guys? Since the train was stopped in town, most of the Argo crew had gone out to drink. Hercule left the kitchen to sous chef Andrew and went to find Dick.

At night, Wichita came to life even more. It was the busiest time since July, when 300 trains loaded with wheat came in a day. Hercule was running frantically through it.

There was a theater called Mysia. The billboard depicted women dancing in ancient Greek Doric chitons in Mucha style. To Hercule it looked like a sweet, decorative painting, like a candy wrapper, but to the other men it wasn't. Many men were lured into the theater by the women depicted in the painting. Some of them were young, about the same age as Dick. Hercule wondered if Dick was in the theater, so she paid the entrance fee and went inside.

The theater was filled with the heat of the men. Onstage, women in flamboyant feathers and fluttering stage costumes stomped on the floor to the accompaniment of "Wot Cher! Knocked 'em in the Old Kent Road." Hercule, ignoring the dancers' sensational dance, looked for Dick in the audience. He found Dick. Dick sat in the front row, grinning and enjoying the sleazy show.

Hercule pushed his way through the crowd to the front row.

"What are you doing!"

When Hercule warned Dick, he apologized hurriedly. "Sorry. I was just going to have a look."

"I don't want to hear excuses. Now, let's go home."

Hercule took Dick by the hand and tried to make his way to the exit.

Hercule said. "I wonder what's good about these women. They're not just ugly."

Unfortunately his swear words reached the stage.

"What?" a dancer with a beauty spot yelled at Hercule from the stage. She pulled up her skirt and said, "Tell me again, fat man."

"What's fat!" Hercule protested, raising her voice inside out.

"Go and take him down! "

The dancers rushed off the stage and pounced on Hercule. Hercule resisted but was outnumbered. The women pulled Hercule onto the stage and began peeling off his clothes, piece by piece.

"Wait, stop it, Girls!"

The women were amused by Hercule's feminine screams and became more and more excited. The audience also gave a round of applause. Some of them even imitated Hercule's tone and shouted "Oh no".

A spotlight shone down on Hercule's fat body. His skin was whiter and shinier than the dancers. One of the dancers kicks Hercule in the ass with her shoe.

"Ouch!"

However, no one heard his scream. Because someone was shouting loudly outside the theater.

"Red corner, James J. Corbett! Blue corner, Sam Langford!"

The names of the two world heavyweight boxing champions were called out, and the audience was buzzing. The voices coming from outside were surprisingly clear and loud.

The audience and dancers in the theater rushed toward the exit to see the greatest match of the century.

The streets were also crowded with people.

"Where's Corbett?"

"Where's Langford?"

"Where are you playing the game?"

However, no one knew, and people were going back and forth. It was all a hoax, but the commotion continued for a while until it was discovered.

It was Dorothy and Giles who started the ruckus. They took advantage of the commotion and succeeded in infiltrating the Argo.

"It was a huge success," said Dorothy happily.

"By the way, who is James J. Corbett?"

"He's a boxing champion. You know boxing, right? It was in the ancient Olympics too, right?"

"Yes," Giles nodded.

It was pitch black inside the wagon. But when they boarded, they could see the load by moonlight. There were many devices and machines. What caught Dorothy's attention in particular was a strange object made up of two strips of cloth pasted on top of each other, about 40 feet long. If she knew what it was, and found it interesting, Dorothy planned to write an article about it in the newspaper.