Adventure Magazine Cover — page 30: what you’re looking at

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

1) OP b I was so late. sun-Dog Trails didn’t know that I knew this, which made it safer for me. “T expected to have three men hold me up, but there were five of ’em. Ames and Rawls were not masked, but the other three were. They did not look ‘for trouble from me, but when my hands came up I gave Ames and Rawls each a dozen buck- shot from my shotgun. They never moved. They were going to double-cross me, but I beat ’em to it. Then a bullet struck me in the head, and when I fell I must ’a’ kicked loose the brake and the team ran away. “When I woke up I was in a saloon at Sweetgrass and the doctor was sewing up the gash in my head. A man had come to the door of the saloon and yelled that the stage had been smashed up and the driver killed. Then he rode away: They had brought me to town. It was dark. I went home. Yes, it was only a scalp wound, but I was bruised up pretty bad. “T found the note in my pocket—the note that would tell folks who I had been. I destroyed it and went in the house. Noone had told Mary, but she was worried because I was tryin’ to explain that I was all right, when the door opened ahd a masked man came in. Mary and I stood there together and looked at him. He said: - “ We thought you was dead, Martin, but it don’t matter. You double-crossed us to- day and you’re goin’ to pay.’ “All this time he’s got a gun pointed at us. He whistled, and two more men came in. “ ‘What do you want?’ asked Mary, and the first man laughed. “Vou, he said. ‘Pretty women are too scarce to waste on a dog like you’ve got.’ “T did not have a gun—nothing but my bare hands, but I sprang for him. I felt his bullet burn my cheek, and then there came a scream.” Martin’s face was agonized and his hands clutched at the table-cover. Then he looked up at Brick, and his face was bloodless. “Ves, that bullet killed her, Davidson— the bullet that was meant for me. Another shot at me as I caught my foot in the rug © and fell. I guess they thought I was done for, so they left. The shots were heard and people came. “Little Jean had come out from her bed and saw it all. I guess that saved me, be- cause folks thought I had done it. I think I went crazy then. “T got a gun and went hunting for the 29 man who shot my wife. I think I just wanted to kill somebody. I had lost all that made life worth while, and I wanted to find something or somebody that would fight me. “T knew that Ames and Rawls were dead, and I had no idea of who these three men could be. I didn’t know but what it was my neighbor—anybody. I don’t know how I expected to find ’em, but I went into the main street, looking. ‘“‘A horse had fallen in the street and hurt the rider. I met the sheriff, who was taking the injured man away. ‘The sheriff looked like he had been fighting. “I went to the saloon, where men shrank away from me. Idon’t blame them. I—I wanted to kill somebody. ‘“‘A man was telling about the horse fall- ing. He said that there were two men. They raced into the street and one of the horses fell. He did not know. “Then I knew it was one of the men who killed my wife. I told them. We went to the jail and took him out. I wanted them to let me have him, but they wanted to hang him. J think I tied the knot. For some reason or other I lit a match and looked at him. “Tt was the wrong man. This man was over six feet tall and had no marks of in- jury. I think he was half-drunk. We left him and went back, but our man was gone. We found the sheriff at his shack, but he knew nothing. “Since then we’ve kinda moved around, . Jean and I. Something seems to tell me that some day I'll find that man. Some- thing will tell me who he is when we meet.” Martin finished his tale and put his arms around Jean. “What was the sheriff’s name, Martin?” “Zell Mohr. He always was sorry for me, and tried to make me give up the idea of hunting for that man. I a he felt sorry for Jean, ‘cause I kix’s was unsatis- fied in any one place, and cael he got this old ranch he wrote me to come out here.” Brick stared at the floor. If Zell Mohr had been the sheriff, why hadn’t Silent recognized him? “Does Zell Mohr look the same as he did then?” “Well, mebbe a little older, but——” “He doesn’t wear a beard any more, daddy,” said Jean. O COMMcl ooo <Si: I asked him who they were. (©)