Adventure Magazine Cover — page 17: what you’re looking at

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on methodically with his whetting but his mind was active. To abandon the girl with her crippled father was unthinkable, even if there was not the shadow of Bill Has- _ brouck hovering over them. But if he stayed there were several serious problems to be faced. He must keep his identity a secret unless Hasbrouck had already recog- nized him—which he was sure the man had not. That meant he must work against Hasbrouck to gather evidence, and at the same time dodge him. But the most pressing need was to pro- vide for immediate exigencies. Vincie’s dollar and seventy-five cents would not go far, and there was very little likelihood of any one visiting the spring to buy water, except possibly, some dreary desert rat who nine chances in ten would be as flat broke as Dal himself. In spite of his career as a ‘rancher Dal was primarily a cowboy. None of his problems would have loomed half as - Jarge if he could have forked a horse; but now, when he needed a horse the worst, he was stranded upon a pair of legs which had never taken walking seriously. Presently Vincie came out again. Her face, in spite of its natural sweetness, was a fighting one. Dal knew she would not lose her composure again. “Forgive me for breaking down,” she said straight-forwardly. Instinctively he paid her the tribute which the uneducated who are not proud of their ignorance sometimes pay to the edu- - cated who can wear their culture without offensive conceit. Even her poise and com- posure told him well enough at the begin- ning that there were several intermediate lay- ers between her social stratum and his own. “We have become ‘so used to having people fight us that it seems strange to find a friend.” “You've got one now—but just Se it, Dal said. “The doctor told me you gave bing your horse and saddle to pay for his visit. Do you think I can ever forget that?’ “Took here, Vincie,”’. Dal began fiercely, her name falling from his lips unconsciously, “T hate gratitude, even if I was entitled to it. Mebbe I need a place to stay as bad as you need somebody to chop wood, an’ fix up the fence around the spring. How d’ye reckon you can make them sheepmen pay for water unless you fence ’ em out so ey can’t ot it for nothin’?” . - ~ abandoned shacks. wid entitled to our confidence. Silver Zone re ES “All right; Pll say no more—but don’t | a I don’t understand,” she an- think that I swered softly. Dal felt better than he had since leaving his homestead. His status at Silver Zone was now established, and though he was flat on his back, figuratively speaking, he was ready to begin fighting back, and up. He chopped wood until dark, then, after seeing Vincie and her father needed noth- ing, rolled out his blankets in one of the rifle were the only things he had managed to get back from Hog-up. The next morning he sat opposite Vincie at breakfast. There was a rough pine table between them, but Dal noted with concern that there was very little else. The food problem already bulked large, but both. &vere too tactful to comment upon it. “My father wishes to speak to you,” Vincie said when they had finished. Dal followed the girl into the other room. He was painfully conscious of the bleakness of the furnishings, so entirely unfit for the sort. of people the Bentleys were, but he tried desperately not to appear aware of it. “Vincie tells me that you are going to stay by us in our trouble—that you have al- ready given your most valuable possession to get the doctor for me,” Samuel Bently began. The old man looked very white and weak, but Dal decided he had misjudged him— there were signs of strong character in his face. “No more gratitude please.” Dal put up a restraining hand. “Vincie has me plumb fed up on it. Besides, I didn’t give Spot to that doctor. I just put him up as security for: payment of the note.” “‘T’m glad of that,” Bently said. “T’ll pay the note and retrieve your property for you. I dislike to accept charity, especially from a stranger.”’ His blankets, and his 1 }j 4 sn % oS, ° J +, ary ee } ' : Weta? iN om 7 vet aad / , y A va 2 airs > F} * : . - ., * : -b 4 ‘ Fy 5 $ eal Laz . ‘t iif. ¢: f A 1” APE hi Be 4: < , -¥ i . r, - be? } . < . ‘ z - 7 1 cy abs fy Ns sek PU oe rut! Pal ty ye WAS i Py Ne WN he : ry A 4 Mires", \ von ke ‘ ter | hs, OT on , eee ft : vf “bet et ‘ . AS S ; : A Hy! Uy pas i *) ul 5 , : f ¥ ‘ Sa Sh Y rhe -. OF ay m oar, - 4 ee) % 1, eA Fe ei vf Rd 4 ‘ ds. Ab Al ; pey e phat | eh yh © Fo) Sr Pa " a ‘ ‘an hee ~ yee, ’ Dal saw that Vincie’s eyes were filled with tears. She understood perfectly that the ~ ee old man would never be able to pay the note. He registered a silent vow to inflict a certain amount of corporal punishment upon the doctor the first time he met him for giving him away. 2: have talked to Vincie about the mat- — a = ” Bently continued, “and we thnk you Tam gong to tell you why we are here.” “You don’t need to,’ Dal asserted hur- “Confidence calls for confidence—_ riedly. cComicbooks.com