Adventure Magazine Cover — page 52: what you’re looking at

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

the size of it. > a . ~ , . - ge + ~~ rae be: a - _ oS ra . — aig he a across a sheep camp. The two men who him were Americans; both splendid 22 specimens of the genus sheepherder. _ “What’s the chance to bum a couple of __ meals, a little water an’ a.few oats?” Dal “Couldn’t be better, except maybe we'll = have to go a little easy on the water—our kegs just about hold enough for our own S horses,” the camp-tender replied cordially. Dal slid off his horse and chatted with the __camp-mover while he fed and watered Sport. The herder meanwhile prepared a meal for him with the phenomenal skill of which ‘some of these range veterans are capable. When Sport finished his oats Dal staked him out on the best feed he could find. He was not quite ready to trust the gray alone on : s the desert without the guardianship of old Spot. : During the talk it developed that the -__ camp-mever was also the owner of the out- fit, and that he wanted a man to move camp for a couple of weeks while he went home. “We'll have to travel fast for a couple of days till we git.to the mountains. above Silver Zone Spring, but after we git there we won’t have nothin’ to do till snow flies,” - Sorensen, the owner, hinted. ~ Dal thought deeply. Heretofore he had held himself far above sheepherding if not above sheepherders, but this proffered job seemed fairly made to his order. It would ; Be give him a place to eat and sleep without -_-tnterfering with his watch over Silver Zone __~ and likewise provide a few badly needed dollars. ; “T never worked with a sheep outfit— mebbe I couldn’t fill the bill,” he suggested. “Vou can harness and drive a team can’t you? And cook? But if you can’t cook Bill can. Move the camp when Bill tells you to, and rustle wood and water is about You can handle that can’t your” Sorensen asked anxiously. “TJ reckon I can,” Dal agreed. “TI’ll be ready for action in the mornin’.” _ Simce sheep invariably: leave the bed- ground at the first crack of day sheep- herders are of necessity early risers. Thirty minutes after daylight the next morning found breakfast over, Sorensen departed for -____Hog-up, and Dal on his horse with his in- _____ structions from Bill the herder for the day’s _ work. ‘The first movement was to look for = the camp horses which had wandered away = despite their hobbles. eee : - good naturedly. ee ~~, . “5 = = =, of ie “a ee, = SS ~ “" + on " ~ Adventtre Dal set out on the horses’ tracks and located them about two miles from camp. But he did not at once return with them. Instead, he rode on until he reached a huge lava rock, large as an average sized house, known as Monument Rock. It was five miles from Hog-up on the road to Silver Zone. , : Sorensen had left Showalter-a pair of field glasses, and now Dal climbed to the _top of the rock and with them inspected the road toward Hog-up. Half an hour passed before any one came in view, then a man appeared riding at a jog trot and lead ing a pinto pony behind. 3 ) Dal slid to the ground, carefully extin- guished his cigaret before remounting his horse, and waited. Presently the unsuspecting stranger rode past the rock and found himself gazing into the wicked end of a six-shooter, behind Pe ee hn RN BE SSE gO i tan ha Os a ty: P , see re oat ee ete Kas. a Se, Se ee ee Bits Santera sean yO PE * a” oe Cae oe ge ee a - <3 wp Ae Ship yg =k oad “ = tt 34 4p ‘ i, alte which sat a steady eyed man on a gray” “Just keep your hands right on the fork of your saddle, Mr. Bradley,” Dal ordered coolly. set Bradley’s gaunt face cracked into a grin. “Reckon I will, Showalter,” he said, “seem’ as this ain’t just the scenery I figured on for our first meetin’.’’ “Tt’s much more to my likin’ than the one you had fixed up down in Hog-up,” Dal drawled. “How long was you hunk- ered down out there in that rubbish pile before you decided I wasn’t goin’ to keep the appointment?” he grinned. “Bout a hour I reckon—anyway it was until they got nervous across the street an’ found old Cutler where you’d done fastened him up like a bale of hay,” Bradley informed _ Except for the gun between them they might have been chance acquaintances having a casual conversation, yet behind their smiling exterior each was measuring the other’s strength. And each saw in the other a personality of tremendous force. “Ts this a case of highway robbery, or — are you just after your horse?” Bradley “Just the horse—but if you had anything else I needed I wouldn’t hesitate to. take it,” ‘Dal said. : “Feel yourself - purty well fixed, eh?” Bradley asked, grinning. “I figured you’d sure make an effort to git your horse back which was why I done brought him along, poe aw ee oO 5 <2 mts wh miEbooks; com