Adventure, August 3, 1919 — page 161: what you’re looking at

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

* : J é * ‘! h \ - had supposed that Steamboat and his crowd nee already all within; their camp- car had been dark and silent when he left the station. He stepped to the door him- self, pushed it open an inch or so and put his eye to the opening. : Standing lined up along one end of the | bar were half a dozen of Steamboat’s fellow steel gangers. Steamboat was just joining them, and they were greeting him with noisy sallies. At the other end of the bar stood “Big” Noonan, an oil-well driller and Belham’s cock-of-the-walk. Near him stood five or six other town men, all of _ them watching the steel gangers and _ muttering to one another, their faces _ frowning, their eyes unfriendly. In back _ of the bar was Scanlon’s barkeeper, plainly ill at ease. “Give us all li’] drink o’ gin, white man!” _ called Steamboat to the barkeeper. - The words, as he uttered them, were deliberately offensive. There was a slur to them, an innuendo on the ‘‘white man.” ; The barkeeper hesitated, glancing at the frowning faces of Big Noonan and his men. Steamboat swaggered closer to the bar. “Step ’long, white man!’ he said loudly. _, “Whut you ’fraid ’bout?” _ The barkeeper’s face flushed; he took _ up a bottle from the array behind him. Andy tarried no longer at the door. He let it swing to, went around to the front and entered the hotel office. From an inner room Proprietor Scanlon himself _ entered the office as Peck stepped in. His face was anxious; its ruddy glow was a shade paler than usual. : “Scanlon!” exclaimed Peck. “Just the man I want. You must refuse to give those colored men out there any more booze!”’ He jerked his thumb toward the door that led from the office into the barroom. Scanlon shook his head. “T'd like to, Peck, but I’m more afraid to refuse than to give it to them. They’ve _ been acting ugly ever since they came in.” “But they'll only get worse if they keep on with the stuff!” remonstrated Peck. ‘First thing you know there'll be a riot on! Remember how it started before!” “I know!” exclaimed Scanlon. ‘He threw _ uphis hands. “But I can’t——” et genctont intemipted bia a shout that _ Game trom the barroom. Mingled with it was the crash | = thes * . i a, dh af pe * i of breaking glass. Then a_ < . ia — Agent Andy I51 roar arose, deeper shouts, and the sound of shattering glass was redoubled. _ “My ?? cried Scanlon. “Listen to that!” Andy leaped for the barroom door and swung it open, Scanlon close behind. The barroom. was filled with the furious clashing of bodies. one above the bar were out, smashed to bits. Fists thrashed about; vigorous, pro- fane phrases were uttered aloud. And then in a second something flew through the air; there was another crash—and the one remaining light vanished. “Come on, boys,” called Big Noonan’s voice. ‘Come on, get outside! Everybody go get his gun! We'll go down and clean this black camp-car bunch out night!” A yell of approval came from what must have been the white belligerents. There was a rush in the darkened room, and the outer side door burst open. The sound of swiftly moving feet came to the tense Andy and Proprietor Scanlon. Apparently the steel gangers had followed the Belham citizens out, for the barroom became silent. Then, before Peck or Scanlon had moved, the barkeeper appeared, his face white. “What started it?’?’ demanded Scanlon, seizing the man’s shoulder. “That nigger—that Steamboat—tried to shove Big- Noonan aside—and called him a name!’’ stumbled the frightened bar- keeper. “Then Noonan landed on him— and they all waded in!” That was enough for Andy; he waited to hear no more. Things, he felt, were moving too swiftly for him to control. He ran out of the office, down the street, popped into a side alley and legged it for the depot. He saw men running; cries carried to him. Some of the shouts, he thought, sounded as if they were coming from Steamboat’s crowd—defiant cries. He ran his best. There was confusion around the camp- cars as Peck neared the station—high- pitched chatter, figures flitting in and out of the doors. Andy avoided the cars and came to the depot. Quickly he unlocked the waiting-room door, entered and snapped the lock again behind him, entered the office and closed that door also. _ Upon leaving, he had turned off all the inside station lights. Now he did not re- light them. He had raised the shades before departing, and a platform light just ‘ a ‘ ; * : . : 4 2 - . - rs Pi en > J - = te All lights save a single * J So Se ee oe