Fifteen Western Tales, January 1953 — page 18: what you’re looking at

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

18 FIFTEEN WESTERN TALES sloped up into u bull neck. Chet’s eyes moved up and the man grinned, exposing a mouthful of solid gold teeth. “You a little late for breakfast, Mister,” he said. “You’re Sam, aren’t you?” Chet said. The big man threw back his head and laughed and the sound rumbled all. through the room of the cabin. “Doggone I guess you ain’t a ghost after all,” Sam _ said. ‘“Leastwise I ain’t never had a ghost call me by name before. Miss Jane! Doc!” he bel- lowed. - Two more people came into the cabin. One was a tall, sparse man and Chet thought of him immediately as a preacher. The other was the girl, and now Chet started searching his mind, wondering if there had been dreams scattered through the blackness, or if this was an actual person and she had really bathed his face and brushed the hair off his forehead. The girl came to the bed smiling. “Tt’s been a long time,” she said. “How long?” Chet asked. “A week,” the girl said. “I’m Jane Bryan. And this is Doctor Acton. It’s lucky for you and the rest of your people that he was around.” “Tt’s more than luck,” the doctor said. He had a deep, resonant voice. had the Man upstairs on his side. You go on out, Jane. I want to hawe a look at him.” Thoughts started building in Chet’s mind; they were almost tangible, as if he could see them; they were like an inverted pyramid. The small thought at the apeex was the name of Bryan, focused and sharp, and then, there was another row of thoughts and another and another, panding, until suddenly, he was remember- ing Les Gunther and Breckinridge and old Nate and he was remembering the twelve wagons in the ‘little valley. The farmers who were going to claim free land, land that was already claimed yy Byran, ‘the cattle- man. The doctor was Genre with his ban- ‘dages. SEER about something, son?” the doctor said. “Jane,” Chet sali cattleman’s daughter.” “That’s right,” the doctor said, going on with his work. “Why?” “A cattleman’s daughter,” Chet Wains- worth said. “She saved my life.” “Any reason why she shouldn’t?” the doc- “Jane Bryan. She’s a “This boy. tor said, his voice firm and low and sure. Chet thought of the cattleman who had killed his father and mother and the name of Bryan kept drumming against his ears. He squeezed his eyes tightly closed. “I don’t know, Doc,” he said. “There’s so damn much I don’t know.” He opened his eyes and élre doctor was staring at him intently. “Admitting that this is the first step toward learning something,” the doctor said quietly. CHAPTER TWO An Eye for an Eye HET sat on a stump in front of the 6 line shack, the good sun pouring into his mending body. There was a basin of warm water on his lap and the girl was standing by him, her left hand against the side of his cheek. She dipped the Straight razor in the basin and shook the water free and smiled at him. “If shaving is such a painful process,” she said, “TI should think all men would wear full beards.” The razor scraped noisily against his cheek. “T feel like a darn fool,” Chet said. “T never had a woman shave me before.” “Well,” Jane Bryan said, “dive never shaved a man before, so we’re even.” — “Why do you bother with me?” Chet said. The girl looked at him intently. She had blue eyes, the kind of blue that sometimes comes in the twilight when the shadows lay thickly against a bushy slope. “Curiosity,” she said, and he knew it was more than that. always building, always ex- « “I want to see what you look like under that beard.” She puffed out one cheek, distorting her face. “Do that,” she said. . He felt a soft, langorous contentment such as he had never known in his life, and then like a wedge, splitting his peace of mind, came the thought of the settlers who had taken their wagons into the valley. He had avoided talking about it, but now he had to know. “What happened that night?” he said. “The night you found me.” -She paused now and looked straight into his eyes. town and tried to rob the bank.” “Tried?” he said quickly. get away with it?” | She was still watching him closely, try- ing to read his thoughts. cComicbooks “A band of raiders shot up the. “They didn’t. “No one accom- (CO