Adventure Magazine Cover — page 50: what you’re looking at

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

40 “Well, figure it out. We need him alive. Wentworth’s trying to make him see the light. The courts need his testimony in the lawsuit. A live man can make resti- tution. A dead onecan’t. Think it over.” Pete looked upward with saner eyes and - untangled his boots from Tom’s toehold. Pete nodded a puzzled head. “Dog-gone it, I’ve seen cool hands, but you’ve beat ’em all! Arguin’ to a man sociable-like when he’s kickin’ you in the shins!” ‘ “Well, somebody’s got to keep cool around here. What did you draw the gun for? Can’t you handle Markum without ae -Pete arose wordlessly, tossed the pistol to his partner, spat on his hands, and strode up the hill. At the shanty the superin- tendent argued in vain for ten minutes. Pete wanted gore. He sought it till the last vestige of sunlight had faded from the skies. By this time.-Markum was nervously seated in -a chatting group in camp-chairs near the new tents, where the party was en- joying the wonderful evening. Jed Hill was in the middle of a splendid reminiscence when the stalwart figure of old Pete loomed beyond the tent-ropes. Markum registered intense interest in the conversation. Pete stood on one foot and then the other. He couldn’t stroll over and knock Markum cold in front of the gentlewomen; so he waited like a silent, gloomy statue of wrath. Markum fidgeted. Pete wanted action. He had pondered long on a discreet but blistering insult, and at last he found a chance to hurl it. | “Did I ever tell you the story about two fellers I used to know up in-the Red Hills?”’ “No,” chorused the party politely. “Heh! Well, this here yarn’s got a moral to it. Mebbe some of you’ll catch it. Here goes: EQ “A FELLER named Ike Lemmon ) had acat. Big lanky mean-lookin’ tomcat with yaller eyes and a temper like a buzz-saw. Lemmon figgered the cat could fight because he looked it. He bragged about it. “A feller named Henry something-or- other’ took him up. Henry had a fox- terrier. They bet five dollars and let ’em go to It. “After the terrier had chased the cat Adventure across three counties Ike was sore. - He didn’t like to git beat by anybody any- where, so he got a bull-pup and sent Henry a challenge. Henry was fool enough to take it up. ' “After they’d buried the terrier Henry got real peevish. Henry was stubborn as Ike. He looked around and got one of them ugly fightin’ Airedales. The Aire- dale chewed up the bull-pup in about five seconds and Henry got the money. “Tke went home and really begun to git interested in the proposition. By now the whole country was backin’ Ike and Henry— those fellers in the Red Hills are pretty gamblesome—so Ike had to make good. ‘“‘Bimeby he sent Henry a challenge for an animal fight without namin’ his critter. Henry was game, so everybody bet a lot of money. “They put the Airedale in a sort of a pit, and then Ike brought up a heavy wooden box. Out popped the most or’nary- lookin’ bobcat you ever saw—jest one snarlin’ mess of teeth and claws and red- brown fur. “That Airedale lasted four seconds by the watch. The bobcat bounced down on his neck and that was all there was to it. “But Henry jest wouldn’t be licked: He went up to San Francisco and looked through the kennels and finally he picked out the most gosh-wallopin’ big Dane dog in the city. Big as a calf. E-normous! “Henry brought the Dane home quiet’ and asked for a return match with Ike, sight unseen. Ike.showed up at the ring expectin’? the bobcat to bring home -the money. “After the Dane had stepped on the bobcat and rolled on him a couple times Mr. Bobcat jumped out of the pit, clawed some folks in the dollar reserved seats, and lit out for Mexico or some place. “That fight made Ike a different man. He took it to heart. He thought and thought and thought, but he couldn’t find any way to lick that Dane except with a gun. “Tke got or’nary and peevish and short- tempered about it. Finally he lit out cross-country, figgerin’ to move away. “In about ten days he came back all excited. Sent a challenge to Henry rght* away. Henry figgered his Dane was pretty tolerable good so he backed him with all the money he could borry or steal. COmiclbook (©