Adventure Magazine Cover — page 62: what you’re looking at

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

48 a sigh of regret, the three resumed their march, stumbling down the slope, kicking loose gravel into their shoe-tops and bat- tling with the thorny brush that tore them mercilessly in the growing dusk. Throughout the interminable night they toiled. They had decided to travel at night, thinking the cooler air without the sun’s burning heat would enable them to make better time. They figured they could make the remaining ninety miles in at least three nights’ travel. ‘‘Walk nights and rest days,” they had agreed. So in the darkness they fought their way; cross- ing the cafions and laboring over the ridges; laying their course as best they could by the stars. Though there was a moon, it was waning and the far-distant Jackear Peaks were not visible as a guide, and the light the moon afforded was negligible. Long before the sun rimmed the eastern horizon with red, Spade Gowdy felt the need of a drink. “Didn’t anybody bring some whisky along?” he growled petulantly. “By : this is the first time I ever went anywhere without whisky. I’d give ten bucks for jus’ one shot, nght now. Carver, why’n didn’t you think to bring some whisky?”’ “Why’n’t you?” snapped Carver. “TI feel mysilf a dhrink or two wouldn’t harm a body. But what’s the use discussin’? We wouldn’t carry it if we had it. I got a plenty to pack as it is; fifteen pound I x must have, an’ it feels like a ton. No, we don’t want whisky.” ; “TI do,” insistéd Spade. “TI do! An’ I gotta have a drink, I tell you!” “Aw, take a drink of water,” broke in Moore, “You're lucky to have that. Bet- ter go easy on it, too. It may not last.” “Water!” scoffed Spade. ‘“Dishwater! Tastes like a chip. I’d rather drink the washings from the _bar-sink. any man that’d go off on a trip like this without whisky.” | “Cut out the hard luck tale, Spade. *Twill be hot enough in an hour an’ we c’n slape. Kape your eyes open fer wather sign—canteens ll be dhry by night—How- lee Moses! Moore, where’re ye headin’? Look, man, Jackear Mountains are down that way—not as ye’re goin’!” Moore, in the lead, paused and followed Carver’s pointing finger to where, far down the horizon, loomed the purple maze of the Jackear range. He had been leading Adventure them almost due west instead of southwest. They had been crossing the cafions at an almost imperceptible slant to the west. Moore cursed vividly. “Well, this ends night travel. we been off the track I don’t know—eight mile—maybe ten. You bet we'll travel by daylight if it scorches the inside edges of my gizzard. Henceforth we plow straight for that peak. It’s up and down like this all the way anyhow, so we might as well try to save by going it straight. Here we are, out maybe six miles of the hardest going this side of forty years in the wilderness.”’ “Howly Mither!” groaned Carver. ‘An’ what’s worse, we gotta walk ’em yet to catch up to where we’d ’a’ been if we hadn’t walked ’em already. Howiver, there’s a consolation—the farther we go, the more likely we be to find a watherin’-place,” he finished hopefully. “Come on, Spade; wake up!’’ Moore shook Gowdy, who had wilted against a boulder. ‘“‘You’re a hot specimen to go prospectin’.”’ He kicked Spade to his feet. Two hours hard travel down a cafion brought them upon a tiny seep at the base of a sheer cafion wall, where a cupful of water could be extracted at half-hour inter- vals. Exhausted, they prepared to sleep the day out, taking turns watching the water that their canteens might be replenished. Continually Spade bewailed the lack of liquor. craved it to an excruciating degree. Nei- ther food nor water could satisfy; it was whisky that Spade Gowdy craved; his face and the palms of his hands already had begun to swell; his thick speech and strange eyes told of the torture he was suffering. His companions, distressed, but in a lesser degree, did not seek to ease his‘misery. Better for them, they reasoned, Spade should drop out. Spade was a burden; with him out of the way they could make better time, and the riches at the end could be divided fifty-fifty. A two-way split meant a half million dollars, and a half million dollars will buy—yes, quite a lot of things. At evening the discussion arose as to whether they should travel this night or await the dawn. Their rapacious minds reasoned for haste, but their sore muscles parleyed for rest. In the end they decided (EOAAICE ,OO “S How long His body, so long steeped in drink, (ECO)