Fifteen Western Tales, January 1953 — page 27: what you’re looking at

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

RIDE WITH THE GUNSMOKE JUDAS 27 A DIZZYING blackness seeped over Chet , and he could no longer tell what he was doing. The pain of his wound and the weak- ness of his. sickness overcame him. He fought against it and he heard his own breath sob- bing in his lungs, trying to gulp in new strength. He knew that Jane was there with him, fighting with him, doing what she could. He saw Les Gunther’s face and he smashed his fist against it and he knew he could not. raise his arm again. There was not that much endurance in a man. When he regained consciousness he was still there on the cabin floor. The place was a shambles, the -planks -blood-splattered. He saw Jane first, her clothing torn, her hair — hanging loose, a wicked bruise spreading across her cheek.. She was kneeling beside him, her hand caressing his face. He looked at her, and knew he loved her, and knew that love was stronger than the ‘hatred be- tween a cattleman and a sodbuster. He real- ized suddenly that there were other people in the room. He turned his head and looked directly into the eyes of Pete Bryan. The old cattleman stood there, his red beard giving a fierceness to his appearance, but his eyes now were the eyes of a defeated man.’ Pete Bryan too knew that love was stronger than hate.- He turned and. stalked swiftly out. of the cabin, a man who, regard- less of what came, - would have to keep his pride. Doc Acton came forward then. He knelt down beside Chet Wainworth. ‘“There’s damn little use in patching you up, boy,” he. said. “You jnst get yourself torn open again.” Chet tried to get to lifs feet. “Les Gun- ther,” he said. “How about Les?” .. “He? s outside,” Doc Acton said. care of.”’ “How’d you get here?” Chet asked. “I had gone over to the settler’s camp,” Doc explained. “I cut through town to pick up some things and missed you that way, I guess. Jane and I decided that if we could get the settlers up here to a meeting so we could all talk we might be able to work out something. We couldn’t go to their camp because Jane’s dad was watching for that, so I brought the settlers here.” “They're here now?” Chet interrupted. “They’re outside with Les Gunther,” Doc Acton said, and by the way he said it, Chet knew what it meant. “Taken . “They decided to believe the truth about Gunther,” Chet said. It was Big Sam that made them decide,” Doc Acton said. “Big Sam was a friend to them. When Jane told them what Sam had tried to do and how Gunther had shot him.” “Don’t talk any more,” Jane said. She reached out and smoothed Chet’s hair. Doc Acton got up and left the cabin and Jane and Chet were alone. She leaned closer and kissed him on the lips. There was a small sound that might have been a sob, and - when Jane and Chet looked up Lorraine Pettigrew was standing there in the doorway. Some instinct given. only to women told Jane the identity of this girl. Jane stood up slowly, unable to meet the other girl’s eyes, and then she said quietly, “I'll go, Lorraine. It’s your place here with him.” Lorraine Pettigrew managed a smile. She shook her head slowly from side to. side. “No, Jane,” she said. “He told you?” Jane said. “That’s right,” Lorraine Pettigrew said, and now her smile was genuine. “He told me.”’ She turned and went outside. On a.tree, a hundred yards from the cabin, the body of Les Gunther twisted slowly on the end of.a rope. Luke Pettigrew and the other settlers stood silently, not proud of what they had done and not ashamed. They were strong men, men who hated violence, but men who would never run from it. Pete Bryan saw them, and in this moment of rough justice he understood them and knew them to be men of his own calibre. “Tf you come hellin’ and roarin’ back into that valley,” Pete Bryan said, “me and my boys will meet you with hellin’ and roarin’. And if you think we give you a fight the last time, wait’ll you see the next one.” He spat through his red beard. “If you come into that valley quiet and peaceful like decent folks,” he said, “you'll be treated like de- cent folks. If you want to keep my cows out of your corn, you better build yourselves some damn fences. . He jerked his horse around and rode down the hill and the settlers looked at each other and nodded their heads, knowing that here was a man they could understand. Inside the cabin Chet Wainworth and Jane Bryan heard none of this. But they held to each other tightly, knowing that whatever had been wrong was now right; knowing for sure that it would always be so. 00 6 cComicbook CO