Jack "was English, handsome and curly headed, educated at Eton and Oxford, and a white man through and through.
Sam was an American, not quite so handsome, educated at Yale (or Harvard), a dead shot and as straight as a gun barrel.
Pete was a negro, as black as your hat, but "white, clear white, inside," like Gunga Din. He was enormously powerful, had a beautiful tenor voice. and was an accomplished veptriloquist, These three heroes did nothing but wander through the wilder parts of the world shooting. game for food (Sam couldn't miss) putting wrongs right, rescuing hard riding blondes from the clutches of bad men and handing: out straight lefts and uppercuts to over-confident bullies.
Pete was the humorist of the trio. Like all negroes, his skull was very thick and nothing could hurt him.
The exquisite moment for twelve-year-old readers was when a bully hit him over the head with an iron bar, and Pete laughed "Yah, yah, yah," and asked "Who frow dat pea?"
This happened in every story with unimportant variations. "Although one always.knew what Pete would say on such occasions, all always roared with laughter when he said it. In fact, he would have lost all his readers if he hadn't.
His other stock joke concerned Jack, whom he adored.
It was only natural that the hard-riding blondes should find Jack's curly head and cultured accent irresistible, and Pete was always afraid that sex would rear its ugly head -and break up the team.
So, whenever Jack looked like falling into the marriage trap Pete would make them both look silly with the. remark: If you don't behave yourself, Jack, I shall write and tell your governess at Oxford."
A governess at Oxford, of all things!
times this joke, which also appeared in every edition, would prove too much and all would become hysterical and get packed off to bed.
One often wonders what -Jack, Sam and Pete are doing now, if they are still having adventures.
Perhaps, despite their great age, they have been brought up to date and ere putting wrongs right in China, And perhaps, when a bomb drops he still laughs "Yah, asks "Who frow dat
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.