Adventure Magazine Cover — page 29: what you’re looking at

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

28 } Adventure He had not known that Zell Mohr had owned the Weeping Tree. “Suppose yuh tell me about that night in Idaho,” Brick suggested. Martin looked at Jean and then walked over by the open door, where he leaned against the side and looked off across the hills. Jean stepped in closer to Brick, but neither of them spoke. Finally . Martin turned and came back. “Davidson, I reckon you’re a square- shooter. I thought—when the sheriff showed up—us havin’ those masks S “Did look bad,” smiled Brick; ‘but meb- be we can spoil the looks of it. Go ahead.” “Davidson, I-used to be an outlaw.” If Martin expected Brick to show surprize he was disappointed. “Did yuh ever hear of the Sandy Creek gang?” 2) rather infamy, of the Sandy Creek gang had ‘never died out, although they had seemingly disbanded eight or ten years before. None of them had ever been brought to justice. “T was the leader of that gang,” said Mar- tin slowly. “For two years I rode at the head of that outlaw clan, and then I met the woman I married. ‘Jean is not my daughter. Her mother was a widow, and Jean was ten years old when I met her. Men said that Mary Ma- gone was beautiful. Women were scarce in that country—good women; and God never made a better one, Davidson. “T rode into Cottonwood one day and met her. Two weeks later we were married and I left the old gang. Mary never knew I was an outlaw. She wasn’t the kind you could tell things like that to—and the Sandy Creek gang had been accused of a lot of devilish things they never did. I knew she could never understand, so I did not tell. “Our game was to take the clean-ups of the mines. We had information on every ounce of gold, and very little of it ever got past us. “T had a little saved up. I told Mary I had sold my cattle. We moved away from there. I was a gambler, Davidson, and my monev did not last. I had to get a job, and of all the jobs on earth for me to take—I went to drivin’ the stage between Sweet- grass and the Ophir mines. “Davidson, I was happy. I had a little home, the sweetest wife on earth, and little BRICK nodded. The fame, or Jean. The past kinda faded out, and it seemed like I had always been straight. There was a reward of five thousand dollars for the leader of the Sandy Creek gang. . “T heard a feller say once that there’s only the thickness of a cigaret paper between heaven and hell. He was right. I walked out of heaven one day when I met ‘Black’ Ames and Pete Rawls, members of the old gang. “They laughed at me when I told ’em I+ was livin’ straight. Rawls.said they were © going to get their share of the gold from the Ophir mines and were willin’ to split it three ways with me. “JT refused to listen to them. They laughed and went away. “Two days later they came to me again. I refused to help them. They laughed at me. Wasn’t there a fat reward for the leader of the old gang? Wouldn’t folks like to know who was driying the Ophir stage? “Then Ames sprung his hole-card by tell- — ing me that my wife would be glad to find me out. “Davidson, I should have killed them both right there. It would have caused trouble, but would have been better. That night I heard two men, standing in the dark, talking. One of them was Ames, and he was saying: “<«That’s the idea. We'll put a note in his pocket to show who he is. Did yuh ever see his wife?’ ‘The other one said— “““VYou’re danged right I have, and I’m thinkin’ I’ll see a lot more of her pretty soon.’ “T knew they were talking about me. After they were gone I had figured out what they meant. They were going to kill me at the. hold-up. Somebody was going to find my body with the note on it and claim the reward. Somebody else was going to try to get my wife, Davidson. “T think that Rawls and Ames were the ones who pulled off the dirty deals that were credited to the Sandy Creek gang. It was impossible to prove it at the time. They demanded that I tip ’em off to the next big shipment of gold. “T didn’t know what to do, Davidson. [f finally decided to lie about a shipment and fight it out with them at the hold-up. I thought there might be a third man in the" deal, on account of the conversation I had overheard, but I took a chance. I knew they were going to try and kill me, but they Comichbooks.co