2 Gun Western, May 1957 — page 91: what you’re looking at

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

SATAN'S SEGUNDO Of aside, never taking his eyes from the four before him. The girl, sensing that a holocaust of flame and lead was about to explode in that room, slid through the doorway into the corridor. A blazing gun-battle exploded in a cyclonic burst of fury. Guns thun- dered out their ragged red dirge of death. Searing tongues of powder- flame criss-crossed the room as Flash Hayden—gunman, killer, feared and hated ever by his own kind—stood, a sardonic grin pulling his thin lips, and faced Nick Scarlett’s gun-slicks. in a gun-duel. { Bitter gunsmoke roiled thick in the room that was interlaced with scarlet ropes of flame. Gun-thunder rolled ae drum beats through the low ills... _ Ten minutes later, drawn by the blasting guns, a dozen possemen, led by a rawboned old sheriff, dragged their mounts to a halt at Tarn’s place. A white-faced, frightened girl tan out to meet them, telling a fan-. tastic tale. The rawboned old sheriff led his possemen into the big, smoke- fogged room. ; THE ROUGH THREE The short man shifted his chew. “Reckon so, Mike,” he said, “but it all sounds loco to me...” Carpenter said, “All right, Mike, we draw straws, an’ Talbeau can hold them.” From a tall clump of beargrass Talbeau selected two straws and put them in his hand, and then he turned scowling and said, “All right, Mike, you draw first. Long straw gits to shoot first.” Mike Fink scowled at the short- ness of his straw,- but his frown changed to a wide grin when he saw the very short straw drawn by Car- penter. “You shoot first, Mike,” the _ Frenchman said. MixE FINK paced off the dis- tance, taking giant strides. The squaw had a doubtful look on her face, Carpenter also appeared wor- ried, For once doubt was seeping into him, and he wondered if Mike would play this honestly. His doubt Death greeted them. Nick Scarlett and his three gunnies were dead. Flash Hayden—dead. Young Jim Bar- ry had regained consciousness, and now he took his dark-eyed young bride in his arms. The old sheriff ordered the bodies taken into the open. Then he gath- ered kindling, struck a match to it, and a while later a writhing red tongue of flame roared up as Seth Tarn’s place burned. The bodies of Nick Scarlett and his henchmen were carried out to Jacktown for burial, and the rewards that had been offered for their cap- ture collected. But they buried Flash Hayden out there in the shadowy, silent hills, and the huge bounty that was offered for his capture, dead of alive, was never collected. At the head of the lonely grave the old sheriff placed a wooden slab. | And with a live firebrand he wrote: FLASH HAYDEN HE LIVED A WOLF BUT HE DIED A MAN @END (Cont'd from page 62) must have beén great, for he mo- tioned Talbeau to one side out of earshot of the big trapper. “Look, Talbeau,’ he whispered hoarsely, “I don’t trust Mike too much, But a bargain is a bargain, an’ I’ll go through with it. But if any- thing happens to me, you git every- thing I has in this life. My furs, my knife, my long-gun, my side-arm— you get them all, savvy?” “Hell, Carpenter, Mike is a honest man!” — “Jes,” remember what I said.” _ By this time the big moccasins of Mike Fink had paced the distance, and he whirled with a roar, “Git thet can on your head!” Carpenter arranged the can and stood rigid, an arrow in the sun. The squaw watched, mouth open but without a word. Talbeau chewed to- bacco and was vigilant, Slowly Mike Fink lifted his short-gun. He stead- ied the weapon, arm a solid rock, The hammer fell. (please turn to page 98)