Pulp Fiction, 1934 · page 122 of 148
Western Story Magazine, May 12, 1934 — page 122: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Analysis This is **story prose** from *Street & Smith's Western Story Magazine*, a pulp western fiction publication. The page shows the continuation of an action sequence and the beginning of Chapter XII ("Corralled"). Jerry and Parks pursue a red-haired man who escaped their initial confrontation, then observe a dozen other riders heading toward what appears to be a hideout. Jerry decides to trail these men, warning his associate that the trailing must be accurate or he'll face deadly consequences. The chapter ends with Jerry studying a valley and several draws where the pursued riders may have disappeared.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
120 Street & Smith’s was a faint rattle of hoofs. All the men turned in their seats. “Who’s that?” Parks a, drag- ging his gun. » He did not wait for an answer. He sent a bullet after the fleeing man. ‘The punchers fired. But the red-haired man was gone among the trees. In a moment the sound of his horse’s hoofs died away. “That bloody-headed fella,” Parks snarled. “Got away from us. No use to try to folla him. Like huntin’ a rattler in tall grass.” Jerry was glad that that red- headed man had escaped. He wanted to keep him for himself, for Jerry knew his kind. He would not work in the dark. He would make Virlee tell him everything. Once he was made to talk, the whole story would be told. Old Parks was so violently angry and disappointed that Jerry communicated that to him. “IT guess that’s right,” agreed, and was mollified. Just as they were about to pass among the conifers to gain the head of the slope, Jerry once more looked back. Again he went rigid in his seat, but this time he spoke to Parks. Parks and the other men stopped. Jerry pointed across the canyon. A dozen men had come to those trees and halted. They were staring up at the trees. Presently they moved on. Jerry saw that, true to his habit, the red-haired one had been riding alone. These men had followed after. “Don’t shoot!” Jerry breathed. “No,” Parks agreed. “Don’t make a sound. I think them fellas is on their way to the gen’rul hide- out.” “We'll go after them,” Jerry said. “Right now?” “Right now.” Parks - He did not speak. . Western Story Magazine “Good enough,” Parks said. When those riders had passed from view, these men moved on. They passed down this slope and rode around to the slope up which those men must recently have come. Climbing this, they arrived in front of the decorated trees. Jerry, the other men with him, stopped his horse. “Le’s ride on.” ered. “Fella,” Jerry said earnestly, “you're goin’ to do some trailin’ now, an’ it better be good trailin’.” “Tt will be! It will be!” The trailer’s shiver became a shudder. “I don’t wanta hafta join the men on them trees!”’ The trailer shiv- CHAPTER XII. CORRALLED. bee a while, no trailing was necessary. There was only one place where the men could have ridden, an, so, only one place where these men could ride. That was ten feet away from the canyon’s edge. Opposite the sheer drop there was a slight rise, conifer- studded. At last the canyon broke away to the right. Before these riders, there was a descent, running away from the canyon as far as Jerry could see. On that descent the trees were so few that he could stare among them to the bottom. Down there lay a narrow valley into which the canyon flowed diagonally. Beyond the val- _ley the mountains again lifted them- selves. With all the riders behind him, Jerry sat looking beyond the val- ley’s floor. There were several draws, into any one of which the other riders might have disappeared. _ At length Jerry turned to the trailer. eves merely. SOT