Adventure Magazine Cover, October 10, 1921 — page 27: what you’re looking at

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

The Silent Captain Wilcox was sensitive. It was a chastened and taciturn man who loafed around town that evening, killing time till he could start for home. There was no place to go except a saloon, so he took a vacant chair near a rear wall and smoked while watching gamblers, drinkers and dancers in the great hall. It was a Saturday night and bad weather. Wind soughed around the wooden building. All the day the barometer had been low and the sun was banished by dull clouds. It was the sort of weather that makes folks querulous. atmosphere within the crowded dance-hall- saloon and it seemed to increase. A leather-necked old cattleman with drooping white mustaches sat to the right of Wilcox; at whose left, beyond a couple of vacant chairs, was a young man reading a newspaper intently: The old cattleman was chewing tobacco and hitting a cuspidor ten feet away. “Heh!” he observed to Wilcox. ‘This yere corngregation looks like trouble, stranger! I know the signs! They’s two or three hombres here that’s likely to bust loose any time!”’ Wilcox took the cigar out of his mouth. “Whor”’ he asked. “The slim feller down at the poker table with them silver dewdabs on his belt is Jake Curry. He’s the wust of the lot. That big stout hombre with his hat on the faro table’s Jim Kelly—and you'll notice the dealer ain’t tellin’ him to take his hat off’n the table, neither. This yere dark feller with the new overalls at the roulette outfit’s Tonio Lopez. They calls him Han’- some. He looks like a pitcher, but he ain’t. He’s a tarantula. Watch him.” Wilcox gazed at the persons mentioned. Tonio Lopez was nearest. That graceful, catlike, smiling person seemed to be the king-pin at the roulette table. Folks gave him deference. He was a splendid looking Mexican and quite a dandy, with clean overalls, new boots, a shiny black shirt, a silk neckerchief, a spotless sombrero, a handsome scrolled six-shooter, and various pieces of small jewelry glinting all over him. His face was beautifully shaped. His olive skin would have made a girl envious. So would his straight nose, big brown eyes and shiny black hair. The only thing wrong was his expression. Itwasmocking, sardonic, cruel. 2 There was a tenseness in the- 17 The man was doubling his bet at the roulette table. The solemn dealer spun the wheel, which in time slowed down and stopped. There was a tiny click as a marble rolled into its center. ‘‘Number nineteen!’ came the dealer’s bored voice. “Yow!” shouted Lopez. “TI got it! I got it! Bueno! Bueno! Thees time I win! . Yow! Hurrah! Vzva Tonio! senor—Gracias!”” Men crowded around him. Others came rushing toward the table. The triumphant Lopez pushed through the mass and jammed gold, silver and chips into his pockets. He made for the bar. “Drink!” he yelled. ‘Everybody drink! Everybody! Tonio Lopez, he pays! Come! Everybody!” There was a roar and a _ stampede. Citizens shoved for the bar. In five seconds the chairs around Grant Wilcox were empty except for himself and the young fellow reading the paper. The latter looked up, then went on reading. Wilcox smoked. =< at the bar for a minute while the bartenders labored to supply the demand. Suddenly Tonio Lopez shouldered through the crowd. He had observed the two persons who did not respond to his invitation. ‘Come!’ he snapped. Grant Wilcox merely stared. After his experience that day all the cannon in the world couldn’t make him take a drink again. He was through. The younger man took the order differ- ently. ‘‘Wait a minute,” he remonstrated, with- out looking up from the paper. The swarthy Lopez jumped forward im- patiently. A hundred men watched him. Wilcox never moved a muscle. The young man kept reading. The latter’s action seemed to give the greatest offense because the youngster didn’t even look up. Lopez bounded up to him, grabbed him by the neck, shook him to his feet, and cuffed him alongside the ear. Lopez then turned a backward somersault and sprawled unconscious on the floor. With the crack of the young man’s fist came a horrified gasp from the electrified men at the bar. His act was unbelievable! Gracias, THERE was tumult and bantering ' COMNICOOOKS C@