Adventure Magazine, December 10, 1924 — page 124: what you’re looking at

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

[02 conscious of the girl pressing close to him. Her face was wan with fear. ‘“‘What’s the matter?” he whispered, cock- ing the rifle. “Lightning. I’m afraid of it,” she con- fessed. He stared at her in amazement. She had shown no fright when in the Indian village nor during the flight. The passing of the Sioux warriors had not disturbed her com- posure. Yet she was afraid of a bank of sullen clouds several miles in the north. Had the situation not been so ominous he would have greatly offended her by laugh- ing “Stay here by the door. You’ll see only the sunlight. I’ll go to the window. The storm will stick to the river. I wish it might sweep over us, but it won’t. And we must keep watch in at least two directions.” He left her; but before taking his station by the window he went to the end of the house and found a window boarded up. Finding a peep-hole, he examined the coun- try to the east. “Why do you stay back there? I can hardly see you,” she complained. He made a hissing noise as a signal for Adventure her to be silent. Instantly the fear of the storm vanished and she was gliding to his side, the revolver held ready for use. There was no tremor in her voice as she softly inquired— ‘Has it come?” “Something comes along the ridge from the east. I can’t make it out. It may be a stray horse. Now we'll shift to the win- dow. Wecan see better from there.” Once they changed their position the girl caught sight of something bobbing and dis- appearing. Murray’s eyes failed to locate it. He stepped to the fireplace and crawled up a shoulder of the rough masonry until his line of vision was through the top of the window. This slight elevation permitted him to call out in a low voice: “Horses. Two of them. Man walking and leading them. Coming straight down the slope. Be here in a minute. Don’t shoot unless you can kill. There’s only two of them.” He regained the floor, crossed to the win- dow, slid the barrel of the carbine over the sill and placed an extra cartridge on the floor by his left hand and slipped a cap between his lips. TO BE CONTINUED CoOMmiclhoo =