10 Short Novels Magazine — page 83: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

passed over his six-guns as Ruff lowered the unconscious man clear of the ava- lJanche the powder would cause. “So you’ll know I ain’t trickin’ you!” he said. Carefully remaining hidden from the canyon mouth, they worked up the can- yon rim. They reached the narrow, knife- like slash in the rimrock. “Here’s the fuse.”’ The Boxed-Y hand indicated the grayish cord with its filling of black powder. The fuse protruded from under a boulder. Beyond the boulder it stretched several yards to vanish in a crack in the rock. “T’ll crawl up an’ see if the coast is clear,” breathed the Boxed-Y hand. “It’s a long fuse. You light it an’ come up to- gether.” The man crawled upward, reached for the fuse. As a matter of precaution, he glanced upward. The Boxed-Y rider was scrambling madly to get away from them! Ruff grunted explosively. He kicked aside the boulder under which the fuse disappeared. A tin canister of black pow- der was revealed! “The coyote!” he gritted. “Short fuse! The rest of the fuse was a blind. We’d a-been blowed up!” He fanned a bullet at the disappearing Boxed-Y man, charged upward after the would-be slayer. HE fellow had a rifle concealed at the top. But in his wild haste the man had paused only to scoop up the weapon, then dash madly across the tableland. Ruff shot the man im the left leg. The fellow fell, squirmed around and tried to use his rifle. Ruff’s six bellowed again. The man slouched over slackly atop his Winchester. _ A hundred feet away Silky Ed Crowd- er and two other men leaped from behind a boulder. Excitement over the failure of their evil scheme made them reckless. Ruff dived, rolled. Lead made high barking squeaks around him. He got the Winchester from under the Boxed-Y. rider’s body, levered the empty cartridge from the ejector gate, and took his time aiming. The rifle jarred his shoulder—one of the men with Silky Ed Crowder suddenly got down on all fours as though looking for something. The fellow caughed horri- bly a couple of times, then spread out flat. Silky Ed Crowder and the other man leaped for cover. Crowder got out of sight, dusted closely by a Winchester slug. Ruff shot again and knocked Crow- der’s companion against a boulder. His next slug felled the man. Mystery Range * * * 81 Ruff charged. He could hear Crowder clattering down into the main canyon, trying to reach the horses. Gaining the rimrock, Ruff started down himself. A gunshot filled the canyon with gut- tering thunder. Ruff lurched, nearly fell down the sheer face of the rimrock, man- aged to stumble back to safety. He sat down, stared vacantly at the hole in his right sleeve which welled crimson. He tried the arm. No bones were brok- en. But he could hardly move it. “Muscles torn!” he groaned. Peering over the rim, he shot three . times at Silky Ed Crowder and the sur- viving gunslick. They thundered around a bend as though bearing charmed lives, spurring their horses. Pretty Dawn Lorde came up, assisting old Zeke McCann. “They got away!” Ruff grinned wry- ly. “Not that I wasn’t kinda tickled to see ’em go.” “Oh!” The girl’s cry was anguished as she saw his reddening sleeve. She folded to her knees at his side. Old Zeke McCann squinted at them owl- ishly, then with a knowing look on his homely old face hobbled to the rimrock edge. He started to glance back—but sud- denly focused his gaze down the canyon. .The sheer-walled defile had abruptly filled with gun sound. Volley after volley of shots clamored. Then there was silence. “Silky Ed an’ his friend musta run into trouble,” Old Zeke chuckled. Stan Yonkel rode into view down the canyon. He sighted them, waved his arms wildly. “I followed you! An’ I salivated both the coyotes!”” Old Zeke McCann tugged at his wrinkled jaw. “Well, where they’ll be goin’ it’s too durn bad they can’t take along some of that asbestos they was try- in’ so hard to get.” “Asbestos!” Ruff ejaculated. “Huh—sure!” grinned old Zeke. “That’s what I found—a whole dang cliff of asbestos rock. Stringy stuff kinda re- minded me of what I figured the fuzz on the Devil’s Ear would be like, so I called her the Devil’s Ear. Boy—howdy! If it _ain’t worth a million, Pll eat the whole. works.” He squinted at approaching Stan Yon- kel. “Guess it’s lucky I mailed you that letter, Big Plenty, before I let Silky Ed overhear me tellin’ old Stan I was gonna cut ’im in on a fortune.” He waited for an answer, got none, and looked around. Ruff and Dawn Lorde had pretty much lost interest in the recital. Old Zeke grinned. “Aw, heck! Reckon maybe I’d better go down an’ kinda keep old Stan from in- terruptin’.” comicbooks com