Adventure Magazine, March 1916 — page 160: what you’re looking at

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

Me hoe Uh ete OF ae OF : a | ? Sy Rae 4 a ‘ ‘oy ae \y 158 = kindly soul, was holding him up to ridicule. Kate’s refusal of him had made Loudon somewhat reckless. He had intended hav- ing it out with Rudd, but Captain Burr had forestalled him there. Here, however, was the sheriff of the county, another enemy. Loudon turned his horse. Promptly the five friends oozed in various directions. Sheriff Block, a lonely figure, held his ground. “T hear yo’re lookin’ for me,” announced Loudon, a laughing devil in his gray eyes. “Who told ye?” queried the sheriff, puz- zled. He had expected something totally different. ‘‘Who told me? Oh, several little birds. So o’ course I want to find out about it. I wouldn’t like to put ye to any trouble— such as huntin’ me up, for instance.” “That’s good o’ ye. But I ain’t lookin’ for ye, not yet.” “T’m right glad to hear that. Them little birds must ’a’ lied. Powerful lot o’ lyin’ goin’ on in the world, ain’t there?” “T dunno nothin’ about it,’”? mumbled the sheriff, who was becoming more and more puzzled at the apparently aimless words of the puncher, “Don’t ye?” grinned Loudon. “That’s sure hard to believe.” The sheriff warily refused to take offense, and mumbled unintelligibly. “Forget that afternoon in the draw west o’ Little Bear Mountain?” relentlessly pur- sued Loudon. ‘‘We had some words— remember? Ye said somethin’ about me havin’ the drop. I ain’t got the drop now. My hands are on the horn. Yores are hooked in yore belt. But J’ll lay ye two to one I bust ye plumb center before ye can pull. Take me up?” Loudon’s lips were smiling, but his eyes stared with a disconcerting gray chilliness into the small black eyes of Sheriff Block. The officer’s eyelids wavered, winked, and Block shifted his gaze to Lou- don’s chin. “T ain’t startin’ no gun-play for nothin’,” said Block with finality. Loudon held up a ten-dollar gold piece. “Two to one,” he urged. But the sheriff perceived that the hand holding the gold piece was Loudon’s left hand, and he could not quite screw his cour- age to the sticking-point. Block was ordinarily brave enough, but he was bad, and as a rule there is at least one individual Adventure whom the bad man fears. And Block feared Loudon. The sheriff’s mean and vicious spirit writhed within him. -He hated Loudon, hated him for his cocksureness, for his easy fearlessness. He would have sold his soul to the devil in return for the ability to reach for his gun. The sheriff licked his lips. Loudon, still smiling, continued to hold : aloft the gold piece. The onlookers—half of Farewell by this time—awaited the out- come in tense silence. Suddenly the sheriff shook his shoulders, spat on the sidewalk, wheeled, and entered the Happy Heart. Loudon flipped the gold piece into the air, caught it and returned it to his vest-pocket. Without a glance at the keenly disappointed , populace, he turned Ranger and loped to the Blue Pigeon Store. When he emerged, followed by the bawled “Good lucks!”’ of the proprietor, Captain Burr was waiting. The tin-pedler’s face was grave, but his steel-blue eyes were twinkling with suppressed merriment. “WELL, suh—” chuckled the Cap- eq tain, when they were out of earshot of the Farewell citizens—“well, suh, you ce’tainly talked to that sheriff. Lord, Tom, it made me laugh. I didn’t know that Block was so lacking in honah and spo’ting spirit. I fully expected to witness quite a ruction.”’ “T wasn’t lookin’ for a fight,” disclaimed Loudon. ‘I knowed Block wouldn’t pull. It was safe as takin’ pie from a baby.” “T’m not so shuah,” doubted Captain Burr. ‘Any reptile is mighty unce’tain. And this reptile had friends. I was watch- ing them. My Spenceh seven-shooteh was ready fo’ action. You Rob’et E. Lee hoss, pick up youah feet! Well, I’m glad it ended peacefully. My wife and daughteh, as I may have mentioned, do not approve of fighting. They can not realize how necessa’y it becomes at times. ell, think, when you reach the Bend, to refrain from mentioning my little disagreement with Rudd. My family might heah of it, and—but you unde’stand, don’t you, Tom?” “?Course I do, Cap’n,” heartily offered Loudon. “I won’t say a word.” “Thank you.” Captain Burr fell silent. Suddenly he began to laugh. It would be well, I EComichboo S (Eo)