Adventure Magazine Cover — page 47: what you’re looking at

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

ie ek ee. Oe = “Ts Vic hurt bad?’”’ Dal asked. ~ “YVes,’’ Vincie. “No,” Vic. Both in the same breath. “He is shot right through the shoulder,”’ Vincie declared. “Merely winged,” Sawyer insisted. “‘Where’s the sheep?” Dal queried. “Scattered from —— to breakfast, I reckon,” Vic gloomed. ‘One of the herd- ers sneaked back here this morning an’ said the rest of the herd was all over the desert. The other fellow had gone on to hold up the rest of the outfit.” “Then you’re—quittin’?”’ Dal asked. “Not yet, cowboy,” Sawyer grinned. “But we-ain’t comin’ in again with our eyes shut. Nex’ time it won’t be Vic Sawyer against a bunch of cowboy cutthroats— it'll be the Sheepgrowers’ Association against one measly cow outfit.” “You got a heap of faith in that asso- ciation,’”’ Dal ventured. “Tell be justified,” Vic declared. *Where’s that herder now?” Dal de- manded. “We sent him to Hog-up for a doctor. i was afraid Mr. Sawyer’s wound was worse than he thought it was, and it might be days before anybody came here again,” Vincie explained. “Mr. Cutler has been ~ here twice since you left, but he might not come again.” —. “Grub is what that herder went after ‘mostly,” Vic cut in. “You’re one —— of a provider,” he told Dal bluntly. Dal was not mindful what Sawyer thought about him, but he was interested in Cutler’s visits. He had Vincie repeat all the postmaster had said. “He insists that you know what he wants, and he says he must see you,” Vincie summed up. or place you name.’ “T can’t quite figure him out, ”” Dal con- fessed. “Do you know what they’re sayin’ about you down in Hog-up?” Sawyer. asked. | “No I don’t.” — “Maybe it'll shed some light on what Cutler wants.. They say that you’re a detective sent out by the Government to round up the gang that’ s been robbin’ mail trains, an’ pryin’ up —— in general if Miss Bently will excuse my language, an’ the rumor is that t you think it’s Has- . ox at at 2 P = “~~ oy eve = 22 = > a a Gan i - | = + a - de ee Me — A hd Silver Zone 7 es A “He says if you won’t go | to Hog-up that he'll meet you any time~ brouck’s gang, ‘There’s talk, too, that you _ killed a man out at Hasbrouck’s ranch though nobody is sure. If you did they’re ze keepin’ it quiet.” Pas “Then you are a detective—and you got _ that wound while doing your duty,” Vincie said with a note of profound relief. Ss “There'll be a man here in a. few days a: to work with you that no detective onearth can afford to scoff at. He’s one boy that always gits what he goes after. ciation mean something. He’s——” . 2a “Wait!” Dal said steadily.. “Folks, ’m _ no detective.”’ = Vincie seemed stunned. She had been terribly shocked when Dal had told her he had killed a man, and it had been a great | satisfaction when Cutler informed her that _ Dal was a detective. That fact took away much of the opprobrium connected in her mind with the shedding of blood, for with naive confidence she accepted the usual a dictum that detectives, being arms of the law, could do no wrong. With three words Dal had shattered her faith. Sawyer, however, was not in the least | — = dumfounded. “Then why did you accumulate that =. crease along your scalp?” he asked quickly. Dal hesitated. He knew it would have _ been much better for him to pass as a de- tective as long as he had unexpectedly _ won the name, but he could not continue to deceive the girl. Sawyer, also, had been a good friend. He could not forget that it was Sawyer’s six-shooter he carried, and it had proved more than useful. Still, it ae | was a problem whether to thrust them with his story. 3 “Mr. Showalter—” Vincie began, only eee to be cut off by Vic. “Showalter?”’ the Madibaas cried. “F thought you said your name was Dallas!” “{ did—and it is—Dallas Showalter,” ‘Dal grinned sheepishly. ae Folks,” he continued earnestly, “youve been mighty good to me, an’ I’m goin’ -t0 = ae You can = : give you my story straight, draw your own conclusions.” = Briefly he recounted the events that had — led up to his exile, and his actions since — that time. for their verdict. making no comment. | =o “Dal, you have been very foolish,” He’s the = = man that makes the Sheepgrowers’ Asso- When he finished he waited = Sawyer lay on his pallet with eyes glued apiece Z on the roof; es - comic a - CC