Pulp Fiction, 1938 · page 75 of 148
10 Short Novels Magazine — page 75: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Analysis of Page 73 from "Mystery Range" This is a **story prose page** from what appears to be a Western pulp magazine titled "Mystery Range." The page contains two columns of text depicting a confrontation between a character named Ruff (apparently a Broken-Stirrup rider) and Stan Yonkel, an old rancher and foreman. The dialogue reveals that Zeke McCann, a prospector, has gone missing after discovering something called the "Devil's Ear"—possibly a mine—and was subsequently kidnapped by drygunchers. The men discuss whether to involve the law in searching for Zeke and his discovery, with tensions rising as they debate their next moves.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
the hardpan when a sorrel brone and rider popped around a hill perhaps two hundred yards away “Who’s that?” Ruff demanded, and held his guns so the horseman could not see them. “The boss—Stan Yonkel;’ Silky Ed Crowder admitted. “Call ’im!” The foreman called. Stan Yonkel start- ed, neck-reined toward them. He pulled up a few yards distant, a withered monkey of a man near sixty years of age. A moustache of hairs which stuck out stiffly gave his face the look of an in- quisitive mouse. He saw something was wrong. “What’s goin’ on?” Ruff produced his sixes. “Plenty. _okin off your hardware an’ climb down.” Stan Yonkel blew explosive profanity from under his bristling moustache. But he complied. Ruff shifted his bound ankles until he gat so he could watch all of them. “This dog-faced foreman of your’n got off on the wrong foot,” he told the rancher. “He was actin’ nasty because he figures I’m a Broken-Stirrup rider. I ain’t. Now I wanta know what this is all about.” Stan Yonkel scowled at the gun muz- zles. “‘We’re tryin’ to find old Zeke Mc- Cann.” “Who's he?” “The best dang friend I got,” Stan Yonkel said earnestly. “He’s a great old jasper. And it’s gonna go plenty hard with them Broken-Stirrup skunks who kidnapped ’im!” Ruff squinted at the old rancher. “What’s this mysterious Devil’s Ear business ?’ Silky Ed Crowder growled profanely. “Better not tell ’im that, Stan!” Stan Yonkel frowned at his foreman. “Won’t hurt nothin’. If he’s a Broken- Stirrup rider, he already knows. If he ain’t we gotta explain things so he’ll turn us loose,” He eyed Ruff steadily. “Like I say, old Zeke McCann is maybe the best friend I got. He’s a prospector. Me an’ that dang Dawn Lorde gal who owns the Broken- Stirrup has been grub-stakin’ him for years. That makes us partners of his’n.’ . He paused to glower wrathfully. “Well, a week ago old Zeke McCann showed up at my Boxed-Y. He was plenty excited. Said he’d made his find, but it wasn’t no gold mine. He called it the Devil’s Ear. Swore it wasn’t gold, but wouldn’t tell us what it was. Said there would be four partners, this Dawn Lorde, a grandson of old Zeke’s from over in Arizona, old Zeke and myself. He had been to the Broken- © Stirrup to tell Dawn Lorde and was comin’ by to tell me on his way to file—” “You sure he didn’t tell you hie he’d found?” Ruff interrupted. _ Stan Yonkel glared at him, said noth- ing. “I got reasons for bein’ interested,” Ruff said tightly. “You see, I’m that grandson of old Zeke’s from over in Arizona.” TAN YONKEL wheezed a long, sur- prised breath through his moustache. “The hell you say! You gotta have more proof than your word.” Ruff fished a letter out of his vest pocket, tossed it over. “There’s what he wrote me. Just says come over—that he’s got somethin’ for me.” Old Stan Yonkel read the letter. “That’s Zeke’s writin’ all right. He don’t tell you anythin’ more about this Devil’s Ear than he told us, except that it ain’t silver or copper or other metal ore he’s found.” “He was plumb cautious,” Ruff ad- mitted. “But go ahead with your story. What happened to Zeke?” “He started off to town with two of my riders. Out here in the brakes they was dryguiched. One of my men was killed. The other got away. Old Zeke was kidnapped. My man who got away winged one of the gang and saw the drygulchers were from the Broken-Stirrup. Well, we. rode over there. One of their hands was sportin’ a new bullet hole in the shoulder. We accused ’em of grabbin’ old Zeke to make ’im tell where the Devil’s Ear was.” Stan Yonkel growled angrily. “We had a shootin’ scrape. Silky Ed salivated one of their rannies, but they run us off. Since then we been kinda holdin’ the Broken-Stirrup in a state of siege. By Harry, they may have old Zeke, but it ain’t gonna do ’em no good!” “She’s all clear now.”. Ruff nodded soberly. “That big Titanic Harrison was makin’ a break when he grabbed me a few minutes ago.” “Huh?” exploded Stan Yonkel. “What's this ?” “Talk low. The big jasper an’ the gal are watchin’ us now, afraid to show them- selves because I got a gun. Don’t let ’em hear us.” i Then, rapidly, Ruff explained the hap- penings at the waterhole, up until his capture while pursuing the buckskin. “Goin’ for the sheriff, huh!” snarled old Stan Yonkel. “They” re figurin’ on tying us up with the law so they’ll have a chance to make Zeke take ’em to that Devil’s Ear.” CORMICOOOKS Go!