Adventure Magazine Cover — page 32: what you’re looking at

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

; = cently i knew he had a real aie be- a tween his knees. The animal swerved side- _ wise to the hook that held the gate, Dal - unfastened it and shoved the gate back oa with one sweep of his arm, and they were - bounding away toward the trail that led = to Silver Zone. Six-shooters were popping before they eng of them at that range, for he knew such és _ guns are never accurate at a fast moving = a acctt: But as he glanced back over his _ Shoulder once he saw Kutch kneel and take - a deliberate aim with a rifle. There was _ not one chance‘in ten that the man would 3 miss. If he failed to get his man, it was -__. certain that he could at least drop the horse, ~ 3 and the rider could quickly be overtaken. _ ~~ Dal flinched involuntarily, but he forced pe se himself to look toward the door of the cook- shack where Kutch was kneeling. It was better to receive a bullet with his face oe . ed just in time to see Hop Sing come e door with a dish-pan of greasy water. ae The presumably excited Chinaman stubbed == his toe and fell full length, the contents of the dish-pan deluging Kutch from head to foot. Dal gave an exultant whoop. Good old Hop Sing had risen to the occasion. Be- fore Kutch could wipe the dirty water out of his eyes Dal had gained the top et the plateau. Hasbrouck’s men hurriedly caught horses and gave him a short chase, but it was half-hearted. It was obvious that Nevada’s black horse was the pick of the cavy, and the men knew it would be - useless to try to overtake him. In a half- hour they had all turned back. 3 = Dal loped along easily for another five - miles when off to one side he perceived a cloud of dust kicked up by a band of wild horses swinging in ahead of him. More through curiosity than anything else he urged the black to a keen run until they were in sight of the wild horses. He was not greatly surprized to see that it was the same bunch he had taken Sport from. But he was surprized to see Sport himself behind pe . them. _ The horses were running wearily—that - was apparent, though nothing was chasing _ them. Stranger still, Sport, the erstwhile ___ leader, was behind instead of pridefully lead- ing his band. Another burst of speed from » the black brought Dal close enough to ex- a: or =. , eis (Sete . —m, i. ee es: ow , were through the gate, but Dal had little toward it than to get it in the back. He ~ Adventure plain the riddle. the creaking leather and flopping stirrups were scaring the other horses. The more Sport tried to overtake them, the harder they ran to avoid him. The reason the gray could not overtake the band was because he had thrown the bridle reins over his head, and his feet were thrust through them so that his mouth was jerked every step he made. Also he was dragging a lasso rope around his neck, and this was continually tangling in his legs. Dal could easily vision what had hap- pened. Out in the desert Nevada had undertaken to ride the wild horse, and be- use he lacked Dal’s finesse in handling im had been thrown. Kutch had then roped him but had been too slow taking his dallieS and Sport had escaped. Natural- ly he had gone back to his band with that peculiar instinct which always takes the wild horse straight to his kind. The black was covering the ground in a long, easy run that ate up the miles, and gained steadily on the tired range horses. Dal kept well above them so they were gradually forced to bend toward Silver Zone. Finally they seemed to sense that they were being out-maneuvered, and they turned at a sharp right angle to make a wild dash for the hills. Dal could have headed them easily but he pulled the black down to a lope and let the band get by. But when Sport came along évery nerve in the man’s body was tense. Sport cut across the al to follow his band not twenty feet ahead of the black horse. With a rope and saddle Dal could easily have tossed the string on him, but he had nothing but his bare hands. He reined the black gently to the left until he was running parallel with the gray, and then he held the horse down to a slow run to allow Sport to get a slight lead. Finally, with a skilful exhibition of good riding, Dal locked one hand in the black’s mane, and leaned over until he could touch the ground with the other hand without slackening the speed of the black. At the second trial he picked the end of the rope from the ground and regained his seat on the black. Gradually the black forged ahead, and Dal coiled the rope, all: the time exerting a steady pressure on the gray’s neck. It hurt Dal to see Sport trying to win the race handicapped as he was by the bridle reins co Sport was saddled, and micbooks COM