2-Gun Western, November 1955 — page 13: what you’re looking at

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

"THOU SHALT NOT KILL..." 13 Rio Gato. And midway in the tumbled hills stood an adobe hut: the house of his friend Emanuel Rodriguez. Dorn smiled and prodded his reluc- tant mare along the trail. It was a year’ now since he’d seen Rodri- guez... | When he swung down in the yard Dorn found the Mexican waiting to greet him. Rodriguez has aged, the preacher thought when they shook hands ; his round face, though smil- ing, looked tired and careworn. “I dig no longer for the silver,” the old man said presently, as they sat remi- niscing. “Maybe soon I go back to Sonora.” “And leave the mine?” Rodriguez nodded, “It is sad, Se- nor.” His eyes swung wistfully to- ward the dark opening in an outcrop of rock yonder. - Dorn was silent, thinking he’d miss this old man beside him. Rodriguez had no greed for the silver he took from the earth. But he loved the dig- ging... Dorn reached for his pocket. “Perhaps a small stake, enough so’s aman could keep going—” Warmth kindled in the Mexican’s eyes. “It is not money I need, Senor,” He looked down at his gnarled brown hands, raised them painfully, “A man cannot dig with his hands full of mis- ery. It is the water in the tunnel—al- ways water. I can do nothing about it Watching the old man as he pre- pared a meal of frijoles, the Preacher couldn’t help noticing the pain on his face, the halting motions of his hands. Dorn decided then that when he got to Junction at the head of the valley, he’d have a talk with Doc Weather- stone and see what the medico could do for Rodriguez.... An hour later, reining in beside the Rio Gato, the preacher sat his horse and stared at the river’s sun-baked mud, “Dry,” he muttered, wondering- ly. In all his years meandering up and down the Territory, he couldn’t re- call when mountain water hadn’t kept the Rio Gato full and running. It was a thing he’d taken for granted. - Dorit wheeled his horse and jogged up-river, reflecting on the: will of God. Rodriguez giving up his mine because it flooded with water—while here the Rio Gato ran dry and ranch- ers in the valley faced ruin, Which- ever way a man rode, there was trou- ble, He prodded the mare to-a faster pace along the trail. This trouble was man-made, it occurred to him now. His eyes scanned the burned river bottom; there’d been enough rain in the hills, according to Rodriguez. Then, coming to a Clearing, he saw the wall of rough-hewn_ timbers stretching sokdly from bank to bank, and beyond, the flash of sun-lit wat- er. So the Rio Gato had been damned, as he suspected. He went on past the clearing. Here backwater from the dam had risen flooding the trail; he took to the brush, and rode around it. It was a short time later as the mare rounded a bend in the river, that Dorn, peer- ing ahead, saw the woman standing in front of the cabin. In her hands she held a rifle, but as he came close, she put it down. The preacher tufned into the yard and reining up, said softly, “You won’t — need that Winchester, Ma’am. Surely you remember the riding minister.” “Dorn.” The woman was young when she smiled. “It’s been quite a while since you came this way, Preacher.” ~ Dorn looked down at her. She was straight-backed and slender in a ging- ham dress, her chestnut hair drawn to the nape of her neck, glinting golden in the sunlight. But it was the fine, wide set of her face, the preacher re- - flected, that would make any man re- member... “Sorry to hear about your husband,” he said presently. “Johan- son was a good man, and God-loving.” The woman’s glance swept the un- finished cabin, the bare yard with its line of broken fencing. “John did what he could to build a homestead. It’d take a gunslick to hold out against Miles Gruber, once he ‘start- ed land-grabbing.” Dorn eyed the Winchester. “Is that why you’re holding the rifle?” he asked. “This place stands in the way of Miles’ plans for his diversion dam,” the widow said bitterly. “Does that answer your question?” Comicbooksaco