Adventure Magazine Cover — page 116: what you’re looking at

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

“s -Feuds ae their inception up or down the trail, or back in the mountains, were ter- $3 ‘minated at Whoa-Haw with knife or bullet, and the survivor’s story was usually ac- __ cepted—especially if he displayed a dispo- os — sition to corroborate his testimony with a => gun = es Bandits of the trail never hesitated to stop here for fresh mounts, a feed, or a jug of - whisky. Old Tommy often announced that a road-agent’s money was not only good ee over his counter and bar, but that if he de- pended for a living on the gold of honest -_—__» men he couldn’t make enough to keep a rat = from starving. While this was an exagger- = ation, it served to show that Old Tommy = ~ possessed no narrow prejudice against gen- ee _ tlemen of the road. The latter appreciated 3 = - this attitude and often varied the monotony tS ee life-and. hold-ups with a carouse at ‘appy Fortune Bar. Uncle Dick, after pausing to sprinkle dust oe over his person and to rub grime over his _ face, hitched his horse under the store-shed : =o and, with his saddle on his shoulder, stum- : bled through the darkness toward the saloon. Outside, he halted and surveyed the interior. A dozen men were grouped along the front of the bar, while one man seemed to have the end of the bar to him- self. bullet-proof logs, and stood very high. Old Tommy had left his store—connected with the saloon by a door—in charge of his as- sistants and was now helping his bartender serve drinks. Inside the bar was a low platform which enabled Old Tommy and his men to stand high enough to maneuver the liquor and glasses across the rough boards. = The bartender was a squat, stocky indi- e vidual with a round head and noneck. Old Tommy resembled a vicious monkey. Their elevated position brought them above the heads of their patrons. To accommodate « No SA. Ea ORME TU SMNE MRS SAAN aS BRUM ONES 9th 6 bay ites ) ‘ + ) AO er, x” P ; ioe, Bley Siva et TAP ve Aan ny O ; Ap “ a er : 4 eter fy rere ay Tele ati a SN OR ey WEP ay j me kl hie ? > has 4 Oe: a yi } ‘hice oed) rh ¥ 4 ty AA , A 1h ay 4 Ng tae a) it - ee ree” vy tot , eee rite ay Mel tia i}? . t hat cao ‘ > a ’ p 7 ; : . vet : continuous bench, or settle, made fast to the wall and extending across the two ends and one side, cut only by the entrance from out- doors. Along this were stretched several men who had succumbed to weariness or _ drink. +Prospectors with dust-filled beards and bags of specimens were there. Others of nondescript occupations were sleeping in ec _ grotesque postures. As Uncle Dick gazed, = =e one man rolled: to the ace crawled t to his f RY The bar was made of slabs, with a front of the travel-worn and intoxicated, there was a ° knees and rested his head and chest against _ the settle and continued his slumbers with- out awakening. Observing that the section of the settle next to the door leading into the store was vacant and afforded a general view of the long, low room, Uncle Dick drew back from the window and made his entrance. Those at the front of the bar barely noticed him. Qld Tommy and “Shorty,” as the bartender was called, appraised him with swift, keen glances. The man at the end of the bar stared at him closely till he saw him drop wearily on the settle and arrange the saddle fora pillow. Curling up his legs so that the top of one dusty boot was within reach of — the fingers of his right hand, Uncle Dick drew his hat low over his forehead and scanned the scene while pretending to sleep. With the exception of a drunken freighter, the company were strangers to him—rough backwash from the hills and the New Mexico mines. He estimated that two- thirds of those present were lawless in thought and action, and that the remaining third was very careless. More than one avaricious glance was cast at him and the other sleepers, but Old Tommy’s rule was well understood—no robbery of the person could be perpetrated on the premises. “What happens outside ain’t none of my business,” he often declared. ‘But to take it from ’em in here is cuttin’ into my trade. Ye’ve got the whole of New Mexico an’ Colorado to do ’em in, an’ if that ain’t enough jography for ye, I reckon ye ain’t up to yer job. Hands off in the Happy Fortune.” Old Tommy, though apparently a shriv- eled-up shell of aman, mummified except for his bright little eyes, possessed the courage and venom of a rattlesnake, and behind a brace of long-barreled #evolvers he was a formidable opponent. The bartender was scarcely human, apart from the phenom- enon of speech, but he was devoted to his employer and dispassionately obeyed or- ders, even to cutting throats. He also possessed a cunning knack of hurling large knives the length of the room and nailing his target nine times out of ten. There had been occasions when, from his elevated position at the bar, he had completely routed desperadoes intent on wrecking the place, by the terrible expedient of throwing eeporetiine Serene eee nosed ets