Adventure Magazine Cover — page 187: what you’re looking at

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

The Phantom Major against the front of the ambulance with a bump; when the car began climbing the hill again they could hear the heavy shoes scraping the tail-board. “It sounds alive to me,” Hartley ob- served. ‘You don’t suppose they slipped a wounded man in on us, do you?” “No, I don’t. He’s as dead as your great- grandfather. Can’t you drive any faster?” Oleson asked uncomfortably. “Well, I’m doing my best,” Hartley in- sisted. “I can’t get the car in high on this hill, and my ‘first’ is almost worn out. Look at your map and see when we get to the top.” “It’s miles yet. Don’t give her so much gas; you race your engine.” They continued, always upward; toward the top of the world, it seemed. Steam was coming through the radiator cap; the water boiling. As they mounted, the trees grew thinner and there was more light, but the gray fog rising from the cafions crept stealthily toward them. “Hurry!” Oleson cried. “If we get caught in this we'll be lost forever.” “What do you expect me to do?” Hart- ley cried indignantly, straining over the wheel as if to force the car forward. “This band is almost gone. It’s your fault for not letting me tighten it.”’ “I’m not your boss,” Oleson retorted. “Anyway we can’t do anything about it now. We’ve got to get to Mittlach.” Hartley looked at him scornfully. “T should say not! There’s nothing left but a thread of webbing. I can feel it.” A moment later he spoke again, a note of panic in his voice. “Tt’s going, Oley! It’s going! Get out and push.”’ ‘“‘Why don’t you push? I'll drive,’ Ole- son countered. “T’m only half your size, you big loafer!” There were tears of exasperation in Hart- ley’s voice. ‘‘All right then, if you want to sit in this car all night with a dead man, do it. Only remember that it means some- thing to us, too, to get that gas analyzed.” Reluctantly Oleson jumped off the car and ran around to the back. “Don’t let it drag you,” Hartley cried. “Push it!” A string of breathless profanity con- vinced him that Oleson was really working. So they progressed painfully, inch by inch. The hill suddenly ended in a plateau and the car moved normally again. Red and 185 exhausted, Oleson took his seat once more by the driver. It was growing dark now, but by the roadside his keen eyes noticed something. ‘Stop, Jim!” he yelled. “Stop!” Hartley brought the car to a grinding halt. ‘What is it?” he demanded, his voice col- orless with fright. “A salvage dump,” Oleson cried ecstati- cally. ‘Look at it!” The other peered at the piles of dirty blankets, odd shoes, rusted bayonets and tin cans that were littered together. “You leave that alone, Joe Oleson,” he said with decision. “If you once get your paws in that mess we’ll never get away.” But Oleson was already digging into the heap, turning it over, indifferent to the barbed wire that scratched his hands. “‘Lookee here! An old style gas-mask. But I’ve got three of those.” He threw it away. , ‘Joe, if you don’t get back into this car before I count ten I’ll drive on and leave you. One—two—” Oleson wasted no breath in vain expostu- lation, but at the count of nine he staggered back into the road, his arms laden. “Look what I got!’ he exclaimed. mitrailleuse! Ain’t it a beaut?” Hartley looked at the machine-gun whose tripods were bent and whose cartridge belt was rotted away. “No, it is not,” he said disgusted. “Throw it in back and let’s go.” “‘We can make time now,” Oleson con- soled him, his trip already a success. “It’s down-hill all the way.” But it was not such an easy matter. The foot brake wore out almost immediately and the emergency followed. These Ford am- bulances were not built for such hills. Hart- ley was depending entirely on his reverse cA ‘now to slow him down while the car rushed on with ever-increasing speed. The woods became thicker again and the road twisted through walls of sheer rock that rose above it. “Slow up!” Oleson cried. “How can I see this map if you go so fast?” Hartley promptly ran the car into the bank. “The reverse is done,” he said. what will we do?” They stared at each other in the gather- ing gloom. “Are you sure?” Oleson tested it and found it was so. “Now COMmMiCcloookX (C@