Adventure Magazine Cover — page 15: what you’re looking at

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

A Pot of Gold 5 ““Vep. thought.” “Oh, it’s sober, all right. I knew there were some pretty tough citizens here, but I didn’t think they were after prospectors.” “They ain’t. Not till the prospector has somethin’ worth takin’ away. Then it’s different.” The younger man knew he was receiving Gospel truth. Though no tenderfoot, his knowledge of local conditions was small compared to his partner’s, who Mad been in the district for years and knew its person- nel, politics, topography and water-holes through long experience. The budding communities of southern California and western Arizona, finding too many discordant elements in their midst, had’ brandished shotguns and _ fence-rails effectively, sending these undesirables on- ward. It was one of those temporary waves of civic irritation. Card-sharps, tin-horn gamblers, gunmen, blackmailers and similar gentry streamed forth in a general exodus. These wayward citizens drifted together in answer to some law of gravitation which attracts similar species, and traveled across hill and valley until they centered in this new country of gaunt mountains and water- less plains. lent, loose and disorganized though they were, they soon became the dominant part of the population. Leaders achieved followings. Birds of a feather flocked together. Gangs thrived and grew. Robberies and shootings were all the rage. The law’s officials lost cour- age or hope of coping with the situation. The country drifted into lawlessness, dragging reputable citizens into the mael- strom. The average man was forced to “stand in” with some gang for self-protec- tion. The result of the whole system was chaos. The natural climax followed. Pickings grew slimmer as the gangs en- larged. Decent settlers moved onward. Small stores quit at a loss, leaving only va- cant shacks to tell of past greatness. Min- ers ceased telling of their finds and were hard to catch. Stages quit handling any- thing of value. The predatory gentry degenerated toward a policy of dog-eat-dog and robbed one another. Gang-feuds became the style. It was not the place to discover a fine new gold-ledge, and old Pete realized it to Now I’ve got sober second Bickering, badgering, turbu- ’ the full. The younger man was more op- timistic. ‘“‘We’ll make it somehow,” he declared. “We'll have to!” “Yes, but we’ve got to be durned keerful. Every time you go to the claim keep a sharp eye out. If any one follers you lead him all over creation.”’ “Do you expect trouble right away?” “Vep. I do. We're liable to git it from any direction. There’s a special war goin’ on around here. I learned about it yester- day. Forgot to tell you because I didn’t want you to git excited about nothin’; but now we’ve got a mine on our hands.”’ ‘All right. Give me the worst.” ‘Jed Hill’s gang’s split. They had a big row. Some of his crowd thought they wasn’t gittin’ their share of the swag, so they sent Johnny Finley to speak up. ‘Jed kicked the or’nary little devil clean through a window. The durned little rat- faced skunk called his crowd together and lit out to git Jed. They’re still after each other. ‘“T dunno what’s goin’ to happen. That Finley kid’s about the most treacherous, good-for-nothin’ little murderer in the county. If you run up against him, look out. He ain’t got no more regard for hu- man life than a rattlesnake.” 3 Up in the mesquite not fifteen yards away Johnny Finley was hesitating whether to pull trigger or wait for more information; but his tricky little brain told him -to bide his time. He bided for a long while; but further information was not forthcoming, so the little bandit slowly and patiently wriggled out of the mesquite clump, made a noiseless crawl into a gully behind it and slipped over to a waiting horse half a mile away. He vanished westward like a ghost in the dusk. ES AT DAWN next morning, while the younger partner cooked the frying- : pan breakfast over a fire of dry brush, old Pete showed he had been study- ing during the night. “Tom,” he announced, “‘we’ve got to git that gold and keep the claim. There’s only one way. You go ahead and pick up what- ever good rock you can. I'll take the burro and go into town and git some liniment and a lot of grub and a new burro. : We'll have to stock up if we stay here.” “You're not fit for a forty-mile trip.” CO MICLOOKS C©