Adventure Magazine Cover — page 68: what you’re looking at

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

of the situation flashed through his mind. a: : a He could withhold his fire, and the man who was so implacably bent upon taking 2 E~ a3 him back to Topaz to hang for a murder he had never committed, would be forever __ past doing any harm. As soon as Bradley - _ was over the break-off he could easily deal an ~ with Hasbrouck and would then be alone | = é = in control of the situation. © 7 On the other hand, should he shoot 3 Be 2 quickly enough to save Bradley’s life he could expect no benefit from the act. He BS S had saved Bradley from a bullet once that night, and his sole reward was to be prompt- ae 3S ly arrested for murder. He was strangely 4 ae cool. He disliked Bradley only a degree - Tess than he~ hated Hasbrouck, and he = .. - could contemplate the death of either of - them without the slightest compunction. - Yet another chain of thought was run- Be hing through his mind. In spite of his in- — hate loathing of “bad-men” circumstances -_ had compelled him to become a killer: He could not feel any sense of guilt for the death a = ee of Nevada, Bonanzer, or Kutch; nor would he for Hasbrouck. ‘And they had been, 4 or would be, killed by ‘positive, direct ac- tion. It would requixe only non-inter- _ ference to account for Bradley. With his , _ own life at stake it would be easy to slip _ over the line. But his sense of justice told = Bee him firmly that crossing that line meant his transition from justifiable killer to cold- _ blooded murder. . Before Hasbrguck had scarcely started to turn, Dal fired. Slowly the rancher’s Ss arms relaxed, and Bradley wriggled free, falling weakly on the very edge of the cliff. _ A moment Hasbrouck staggered back and forth as if indulging in some grotesque ____. dance there in the moonlight, then pitched = headlong over the precipice. CHAPTER XVII “THE PAROLE IS OFF” Te waited just long enough to make sure that the detective was out of eee before he started for the cabin. _ The door was barred from the outside, but _ the streaks of light that shone through the cracks in the walls apprized Dal that some- one was inside. ary = With fingers that trembled with excite- i a | — = wah oe a cee ~ ss Ss > ~ eae pe a —! ¥ poate Pee PS scat aang oe Soa tb Se Se Sts ge eae aS Ses eo . yim = — = a ~ ~~ : > eh aS we pa an i Nee a se - 3 <s5 om a a —— + a Hie - - - ~ > “td = " As = - 7 _ _ So os - z = . my ee E r - Pell " : : ‘Z Sects _ : 4 ns se pies > ae | r_¢@ , 2235S >< { + ont “hens *) ~" Zz 7 efforts, and then he realized that the ‘girls had barred the door on the inside as well. “Vincie, are you in there?” he called eagerly. “Yes; who is it? Is it you, Dal?” she called back in a- voice that quivered with excitement. “Yes, it’s me—everything’s all right,” he replied. “T’ll unfasten the door in a minute,” she promised. He heard her moving or dragging heavy objects inside for a moment, then the door ‘was thrown open. He stepped in and took the hand which she impulsively offered. The first thing he noticed was that everything in the room seemed wrecked. The bunk was torn from the wall, and practically every piece of the crude furniture was piled in the middle of the room. “Did—did Hasbrouck—’”’ he stammered. Vincie caught his meaning and smiled. ““We’ve had no visitors since we came here. We piled all the furniture against the door to make sure we wouldn’t.” Now he had time to regard her personal appearance. Her patched gingham dress was torn and soiled, and there were smudges - of dirt over her hands and face. The nurse was better off in appearance only be- cause her uniform was of newer,more sub- stantial material. Mentally she seemed less calm than Vincie. At Dal’s lugubrious expression Vincie began to laugh—a laugh that came peril- ously near being hysterical. The nurse’s professional instinct was aroused. “Stop it,” she commanded. . Vincie quieted at once: “Tell me,” she implored, “what has hap- pened? We heard shooting outside.”’ “Hasbrouck’s gang has been wiped out, so you have nothing to worry about.’” Dal wasted no time in a long recital of all that had happened. He found boxes for the two girls to sit upon, then perched himself upon the edge of the table. “Now what has happened to you?” he asked. ‘When we ran out of the cabin at Silver Zone—you have heard about the raid there, of course?” Vincie began. Dal nodded. ' “We ran into those men and were over- powered. They tied our hands behing us| == COmicbooks ya Gol