Pulp Fiction, 1934 · page 73 of 148
Western Story Magazine, May 12, 1934 — page 73: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Page Analysis This is story prose from a pulp fiction magazine titled "Trail Pardners" (page 71). The text depicts two frontier partners—Hard-rock and Poke—who catch a man named Listman at their camp, believing he has stolen their furs. After a violent fight, they capture and bind him. The passage then shows them discussing plans to open a trail to Iron Mountain country and dividing responsibilities: Poke will take the prisoner to Big Nugget to sell the recovered furs, while Hard-rock remains behind to relay supplies over difficult terrain. The narrative focuses on frontier adventure and partnership dynamics.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
Trail Pardners __ | 71 Poke swung in behind his partner. They approached the camp with caution and took observations. “Tt’s Listman,” Poke whispered. “And they’re our furs.” “Yeah, our furs!” Hard-rock agreed. : It wasn’t my furs and your furs, but our furs. They exchanged glances, nodded, then hurled them- selves on the man by the camp fire. Listman was half onto his feet when Poke hit him. He went down, but was up instantly, shedding the clawing partners as a duck sheds water. His right elbow smashed into Hard-rock’s stomach as the little sourdough was renewing the attack. He went down with a grunt, but bounced to his feet again. Poke’s fist nailed the giant over the right eye. He went back onto his heels, recovered his balance, and rocked Poke with a punch to the jaw. Poke imstead of retreating, clinched. Listman grinned and got Poke’s long neck in the crook of his arm and began to shut off the wind. “How do you like that?” the giant jeered. 3 Hard-rock, seeing his partner clawing for air and his eyes be- ginning to protrude, hunched his head deep between the shoulders and charged. Six feet from Listman he left the ground and struck the big fellow in the stomach with his head. Listman’s knees buckled, his eyes glazed, then his arms dropped. Poke eased him to the ground and grinned at his partner. “That puneh with your head always sinks ’em,” he said. ~ Hard-rock gently rubbed the back of his neck, which seemed dislocated from the impact. “Let’s tie him up,” he suggested. Five minutes later Listman re- gained consciousness. “Were you boys caught in that earthquake?” he asked. “What fell on me, the glacier?” “Nope!” Hard-rock answered. “My head, you danged fur thief. You’re goin’ back to jail, brother, and you're goin’ to be out of cir- culation for along time. There may have been some doubt about you’re stealin’ fur out of Pete Sather’s traps, but it’s a cinch you’ve swiped ours. We've caught you_ red- handed.” . “Vd like to bet I don’t serve a day,’ Listman retorted. “I’m too smart for you.” Hard-rock and Poke took turns guarding their prisoner that night. | The return trip began at daybreak. They avoided the glacier with its snow bridges and blazed a longer trail. When they reached Tabasco’s corral late that night, Hard-rock drew his partner aside. “Do you know, Poke,” he said, “the Chechaheo Kid was right. We - ean’t get along without each other. I’ve been thinkin’ maybe we should open up a good trail to the Iron Mountain country.” “So have I. And if Listman hadn’t swiped our fur and brought us together, we might have split for good,” Poke replied. “Now suppose I take Tabasco and the prisoner back to Big Nugget. I'll sell our fur and get some trail grub.” “And in the meantime,’ Hard- rock interrupted, “T’ll relay what we've got here over the bad coun- “That's my idear exactly,” Poke agreed. | ARD-ROCK stood guard all that night, knowing he could rest the next day while Poke would be alone with the prisoner the remainder _ of . the.