Cowboy Short Stories, November 1939 — page 100: what you’re looking at

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

THE DEAD ARE IN THE SADDLE cutor here in the county then, and it didn’t take him long to round up witnesses to the whole thing—him and me, that is. What you think of that?” The kid studied his smoke. for a mo- ment his eyes had snapped open. Then he caught himself and wiped all expression off his battered face. So he was dead, was he? Dead with his throat cut and buried under tons of shale rock for ten years. It seemed to him that Trude Lyman’s name kept cropping up wherever there was anything that smelled bad, “Where's Edmo now?” he demanded. Forbes ran his forefinger around his skinny neck. ‘“Trude Lyman and me know how to handle killers. Still say Bill Edmo was your friend?” The kid’s knuckles stood out white as his fists clenched together. Bill Edmo was dead, hanged for the murder of a youngster who had never been killed. He sat there staring at Forbes while his face grew stead- ily grayer. Forbes and Trude Lyman had lied and bribed old Bill Edmo into a hang rope. “Yeh, he was my friend,” the kid said softly. He stood up very deliberately and let his hands drop down to his sides. Ly- man had gotten his start in coal that he sold to the railroad, and the kid knew where that coal had come from—from the Haferty ranch that it had taken Bill Edmo’s murder to get. “Yeh, he was my friend,” he repeated, and his hand began to snake to his gun grip. HE kid they called Drifter never heard the door open behind him. The first intimation he had that anyone besides him and Forbes was in the room was when a six-gun barrel smashed down on the back of his neck, The blow knocked him across the room. His body struck the wall and slumped down. He wasn’t out, but pain and nausea \FIRESTONE-U.S. and Aphis Standard Makes. GUARANTEED TIRES! COODYEAR-GOODRICH I+) 440 LANTERN With Every 2 Tires ordered | 4 World’s Lowest TIRE PRICES 1 Tire users by the Complete with bat- | teries and ewes’ trong, 8 lig ht. Useful every- Hane Ordernow. piSize Tires Tubes ires Tube neeas tt sey $2. 4 4 80. 85 Ererey 33. 45 $1. 48 & Lose 5i34x4¥6 3.45 1.45 re o aR — : pot fa} A WN we WW UWWWWWWOWNNNNNNNNNE WNUHDAAAWWWNOOOODBADAL t ' te _— BR Soencea CUIDAOSOUUUMUINOSUGOVUO RURURRARERERARRRES eee eae we PPESESORRMAAAANGSD SES $3 ' @ 6 S ARS 5S x = Qsooore SEND ONLY $1.00 se a on each tire ordered. (83.00 on each Truck ae e ship balance C. O.D. | Deduct S per cent if cash {is Bent fn Poll with order. To Bu are al ALE ab Eb ee we ma eee brands if neces- D NEW — GUARANTEED — § yPERRY-FIELD TIRE & RUBBER CO. 2328-30 S. Michigan Av., Dept. DAG-19 Chicago, Ill. Gbteunest JOB, patalyzed him. He could see the man who START had struck him standing in the center of $1260 to $2100 Year the room looking down at him, and smiling | Thousands Ap- FRANKLIN INSTITUTE, Devt, RIG craftily. pointments each Rochester. = The man was thin and dapper with three year Sirs: Rush to mo, mito on (1) 82- or four gold teeth in the front of his = © page book with list of Ff vernnmoent Get ready & jobs. (2) Tell mo immediately how to qualify t . f of th mouth and thin black hair combed carefully Men—_Women © Spe gee ee over a bald spot on top of his head. He} Mail Coupon f SIN seein eibsireesentrensrememtomenceny ne ae very deliberately lit a panatela cigar without today Sure, J Addr668 duumunentanmsnnesmarnininininsinn sm shifting his gun from covering the kid. (Continued on Page 102) 101 Connicloookxs (©