Adventure Magazine Cover — page 79: what you’re looking at

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

The Challenge with your fists. That what you drivin’ at?” “That’s all I’ll bring with me.” Fisher shook his great head slowly. “That’s talk. Come any time, Jim. That’s a bargain. Jes’ me an’ you—man toman? You come any time, Jim.” He touched his mount with a spur and brushed past on a canter. Jim McBryde rode on, grimly silent. He had delivered a two-fisted ultimatum. And Fisher had replied with the bellow of a man supreme in the confidence of his own physical might. bank. [se] ‘“That’ll help,” he said to Jim, as the latter rode down the line of them. “It'll take about half as many hands to keep them steers out now. Dunno why I didn’t think of it in th’ first place. An’ I gct to save th’ hands, Jim. That gin’s goin’ to start in th’ mornin’. What did you do over’n Grimsby?” “Nothin’,” said Jim. “Work it out any way you please.” LATE that night Saddler was kick- ing and beating madly on Jim’s door. And as Jim rolled out of bed, the yellow glare of something afire was flashing across his room. : to pay!’ panted Saddler. “Don’t go out to see. You can’t do nothin’. It’s th’ gin-house.”’ Jim bit his lip. “Who fired it?” “Who? You ask me that! Who set up smokin’ an’ wranglin’ in a gin-house unless it’s a lot o’ half-crazy cotton-pickers full o’ bootlaig? Don’t blame them, Jim. Fisher’s th’ one.”’ McBryde was getting into his clothes. “IT don’t. Get my horse. Send somebody for our sheriff an’ tell him to wait here till I get back.” | ; ‘“‘What—what you doin’, Jim?” “You heard me, didn’t you? Horse an’ sheriff. You got the hands keepin’ sparks from that gin-house away from the quar- ters? That’s right. Go on, now.” Cay AN HOUR later Jim McBryde ce, crept carefully through inky black- ness of the pin-oak timber. At the very edge of it he had left his horse. He might have gone boldly, incautiously SADDLER built fires all along the Biv TOL 73 to his objective. But he could not trust the man he had pledged himself to bring away this night. Fisher would be expecting him, that he was certain of. But who else would be lying in the viscid blackness, eager and ready to deal a blow for the man? Fisher had henchmen; he had enriched them through his nefarious trade. If Fisher won the impending struggle, they would never be seen. [If he lost Suddenly McBryde stiffened. The light he had been approaching was close at hand. In tremendous silhouette stood Fisher, listening, turning quickly as though fearing to be caught unawares. “Oh, Fisher!’ McBryde called clearly. Fisher wheeled, tense, half-crouching. “Keep your men back, Fisher. This is Jim McBryde. I’ve got just as many be- hind me as you have. I’ve come for fair play. Am I goin’ to get it?” Fisher barked out: “Show yourself an’ keep your hands up. An’ tell your men it’s fair play long’s you play fair. Don’t wait too long. My men is nervous, Jim.” McBryde strode into the tiny .clearing that reeked of scuring mash. The still he knew was Just beyond. He threw off his hat. “T told you today I was comin’ for you if your men crossed my line. They’ve done it. You’re goin’ back with me, Fisher.” With a sound that was like a growl of savage glee, great Fisher lunged his bulk with the quickness of a flash. McBryde, off guard, went down from the impact of a catapulting shoulder and a sledge of a fist that seemed to explode against his forehead. His ears rang, the light of the lantern danced crazily. With a gulp he struggled to his feet in time to meet the next wild surge of brutish might. He had known Fisher’s reputation as a fighter. Never until now had he realized the man’s herculean aggressiveness. He knew he was in for it. He set his teeth, braced himself and let Fisher charge again. Here he came, arms like pistons driven, growling, rumbling in his throat, head down like a battering-ram. It was the very thing McBryde hoped for. He was braced, left foot forward. A mighty swing and he drove with every ounce of his power, straight for the bearded jaw. The impact all but made him cry out with pain. He COmiclboolks C©