Fifteen Western Tales, March 1954 — page 32: what you’re looking at

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

hme —— FIFTEEN WESTERN TALES — _and almost immediately the entire area had fiamed into a savage range war. He had fought for what was his, had lost, and, like the half-dozen other losers, had been brand- ed a murderer by the winning faction which had the law on its side. He had pulled out before he could be arrested and brought to trial, but running and hiding had not been easy for him. His past reputation as a gunman had marked him, and there were many who would kill him for the fame it would bring. Riding the out-trails, he had been able to stay clear of such men, but in town it might well be different. His protective in- stincty sharpened by a year on the dodge, - told him to turn back to the hills. He told himself that he probably couldn’t even find the woman. And what if he did? He could look at her, give her the glove—then | what? Then ride out ets town fast, if he could, But he wanted to see her again, just why he didn’t try to figure out, and so he rode on. He’d be a fool this once. What had being smart got him? . _ It was three hours before he came to the town, and it was a fair-sized place for a cow town. He saw the stagecoach still standing in front of the weathered, two- story hotel, and he rode directly for that building. He was aware that his shabbi- ness and the lankness of his horse made him the target of curious eyes, but he hunched his shoulders against the stares of the men he passed and moved deter- minedly On. St He tethered his horse loosely at the hitchrail, went into the hotel, and walked directly to the desk. The clerk, a dignified young man in a gray suit and immaculate white shirt, looked at Evers doubtfully. “Yes, sir?” he asked coolly. Evers turned the register around and glanced down the page. No woman had - registered yet this morning. He looked up and saw the clerk watching him with suspicion and distaste. of what he saw held him motionless. “Don’t worry,” Evers said, “I’m not going to dirty any of your sheets. I’m looking for a woman named Raines. Do you know where I can find her?” | Surprise showed in the clerk’s eyes. He hesitated a long time before he said, ‘Why, I guess you mean Mary Raines. She has an office down the street—Raines Ranch Equipment. You might try there.” - Evers nodded and turned to leave. As he did so, he caught sight of himself in a wall mirror, and for a moment the shock : The man reflected back at him was gaunt and hollow-eyed. Hair was curling down over his ears and his face was coveréd with. a“ — heavy black. stubble. His clothes were shapeless and torn. Lord, no wonder men stared at him! At a general store across the ateéet from the hotel he bought a complete new outfit from hat to boots, and then he went to a barber shop where he got the works, in- cluding a bath, and changed into his new clothes. When he came out he felt human again and less like an animal that had acci- dentally wandered into a place where peo- ple live. He took his horse to the blacksmith’s and left instructions that the animal be given a good meal at the livery next door when his new shoe was on. After that Evers went to a cafe and had steak, eggs, and french fries and then to a saloon for. a drink. He built a cigarette and smoked it slowly, and all the while*he knew that these things—the eats, the drink, the smoke -—were merely ways of putting off and savoring for a while the thing he had really come to town for. the woman named Mary Raines and then leave town quickly, for he had crowded his luck too far already. He went out of the saloon and walked down the street until he came to a sign swinging over a flight of stairs that led into a two-story office building. The sign _ said RAINES RANCH EQUIPMENT, and an = -comicbooks:com But now he must find. —— ‘- = Z F s {lee s< ; — yo ae : a> : a es 7 3 oe EE ee ste ee AS a a a ea rae » ' ry en de, fn o + Se pons od a. eee Be mths ~e