Adventure Magazine Cover, October 30, 1924 — page 80: what you’re looking at

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

70 Adventure The conflagration had died out in the canon below, being succeeded by a confused tumult, through which pierced occasional yells to answer those emitted by the Yaquis above. Leaving these last to his compan- ions, Hampton settled himself with extra rifles and revolvers to watch that platform at the head of the trail, and it was not long before his patience was rewarded. Under the stars he sighted a dim mass moving up- ward, heard the scrape of feet and mutter of low voices. Laughing to himself, he waited momentarily, then poured a hail of bullets into the dark mass of men. ceased firing, only dead or wounded men re- mained on the trail; below, far below, the seaman’s voice of Dias rang like a clarion. After this there fell silence; while from the cactus thickets around the crown of rocks came occasional voices that told of new arrivals from the harbor. Now and again a rifle was fired, though the four white men made no response, and the Yaquis, sure of their prey, were not anxious to hasten the event; indeed, they could do little until Dias and his men from the arroyo could gain the upper level by a roundabout way. So the five fugitives waited for the end, making a full meal on the provisions they had brought, and Frenchy found a canteen on a dead Yaqui which provided a few swallows of water all around. “So this is the end of it all!’ said Nelly Barnes, as she sat hand in hand with Dick Hampton, watching the eastern sky slowly lighten with the dawn. ‘This is the end— and what a sordid thing it has been all along, with the greed of that man Dias behind everything! It is hard to realize how everybody was deceived; oh, do you re- member that day in Beverly, Dick, when the company marched down to the wharf, and the speeches and songs is ‘‘And where is the company now?” broke in Hampton, with a grim laugh. “It’s dead, or fever-stricken, or heading back home—and its money is in the pocket of Dias. Did he get all of yours, Nelly?” ‘““Ves,”’ she said. ‘‘He kept promising to take me on to San Francisco from here. Well, no use looking backward now, Dick! How long have we before—before the end?”’ “Not long,” and Hampton glanced at the rapidly lightening sky. ‘“They’ll rush us once or twice, then pour bullets into us and get it over.” “Then kiss me goodby now, Dick,” she When he. said quietly. “I’m saving one of these re- volvers for myself—and they shan’t cap- ture me. We'll go together, Dick.” “Right, Nelly,” he answered, and their lips met. “Come alive, Dick!’ sounded Eli’s voice. “Looks like they’re on us!” A last kiss, and Hampton sprang to his place. The crown of rocks was surrounded by rough and cactus-covered ground, but had the advantage of dominating position; from it, Hampton could see far over the desert on all three sides. Behind was the gulf of the arroyo. Eli pointed to a dark crowd of men, beyond rifle-shot, off to the right. “Now they’re splitting up,” he said. “Working out around us, eh? And look yonder, toward the sea—ain’t that another gang?” ee, Hampton looked down: the trail toward the harbor and thought that he made out shadowy moving objects. He shrugged. “The crew of the schooner coming up. Well, get to your place, Eli—and goodby.” “Goodby, Dick.” A rifle-ball whistled between them as they separated. Pap Hoskins answered it, ut- tered a jubilant whoop, and the game was on. A stern enough game it was, as Hampton discovered, and one at which he was a poor player. From the surrounding brush, boul- ders and cactus thickets, bullets were poured in at the crown of rocks; so thick and fast they came that to answer them was im- possible, every least exposure drawing a hail of lead. Under cover of this fire, the Yaquis moved forward, gathered for a rush, and finally burst from cover with a yell. The yell changed to a wild scream, how- ever, as the four white men emptied rifles and revolvers into them, maintaining a stream of bullets. Astounded and dis- mayed, man after man plunging down, the Yaquis broke and scattered, and then spread out under cover to recommence their dropping fire. Frenchy brayed ex- ultantly, Pap Hoskins whooped, and Nelly Barnes flitted from one to another, re- loading the emptied weapons. “They won’t try that again!” yelled Eli, and his rifle banged. ‘Head down, Dick!’ Try it again they did not, but began to pour a searching, deadly fire into the crown of rocks. Hampton dared not show him- self to shoot—the movement of a hand cComicbooks.c© inn