Adventure Magazine Cover — page 67: what you’re looking at

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

THE BUCKAROO all he knew about dynamite was that “‘the ——— stuff busts and raises se It was not often that Antelope Neal, owner of the Oasis, went out of Blue Wells, but he did ride down to see what had hap- pened to the Double Bar 8. Neal was a small, gray-haired man, who seldom had anything to say. He was a square gambler, and was respected as such in Blue Wells. Hashknife noticed that Tex Alden and Antelope Neal stood apart from the crowd for quite a while, talking confidentially, eying him at times, and causing Hashknife to suspect that he was the subject of their conversation. . When the crowd began to thin out, it seemed that Tex tried to start a conversa- tion with Marion, but she evidently pre- ferred the attention of Jimmy Legg, and Tex retired, his lips set in a thin line, his eyes hard and speculative. Lee Barnhardt noticed that Marion had evaded Tex, and it seemed to amuse the Blue Wells attorney. He sidled in beside Tex, who paid no attention to him. “Tex, you’re not going to let a tenderfoot tramp cut you out, are you?” he asked, possibly trying to be sympathetic. Tex’s action was almost as sudden as dynamite. He hooked his right fist against Barnhardt’s jaw, knocking him almost through the patio gate. Needless to say, Barnhardt stayed down. Tex stepped over to him, glanced down, turned to the crowd and studied them coldly. Then, without a word, he walked to his horse, mounted and rode away. Several men ran to Barnhardt and tried to help him to his feet; but standing up was one thing that Barnhardt did not care about in the least. He sagged weakly, goggle- eyed. ‘As cool as a cow-cumber,” said Al Porter. , “Cucumber,” corrected Dug Haley. “T said what 1 meant!’ snapped Porter. “Tf you wants to correct me on vegetation, you better mean the same thing that I do.” ‘“‘There’s been enough fightin’,” observed the sheriff. ‘Did anybody hear what caused Tex to hit Barnhardt?”’ Nobody had. Some one secured a bucket of water, which they sluiced over the help- less Barnhardt. It made a mess of him, but served to jolt him back to conscious- ness. After a minute or two he was able to stand on his feet, but his jaw did not 5 OF BLUE WELLS function properly. Hashknife examined it but found it was not broken. “Why did he hit yuh, Lee?” asked the sheriff. “Tdnuk,” said Lee painfully. Interpret- ed, this might be construed to mean “I don’t know.”’ And this was all the explanation he was willing to mumble. He went out to his sway-backed horse, and headed for Blue Wells, riding slowly and caressing his jaw. The sheriff was the last to leave, and he would have stayed longer, except that the four cowboys from the AK ranch rode in. They had heard of the dynamiting, in Blue Wells. The sheriff did not care for their company; so he rode away. “My , that shore is another wreck of the Hesperus, ain’t she?” said Eskimo Swensen. “Wham! Tl betcha she made some noise.”’ “Tt came near being serious,” said Jimmy. Johnny Grant grinned widely and slapped Jimmy on the back. “You derned hoodoo! It looks as though this was the third time they’d tried to kill yuh off. I dunno what they'll use next.” ‘Tie him on a railroad track,” suggested Oyster. | Johnny drew Hashknife aside, and they sat down together on a pile of shattered adobe bricks. “ve been wantin’ to talk with you, Hartley,” said Johnny seriously. ‘Yo’re workin’ on this hold-up case, ain’t yuh?” “Well?”? Hashknife admitted nothing. “T heard yuh was; so I’m goin’ to tell yuh what I know about it.”’ And while the other boys examined the wreckage, Johnny Grant told Hashknife of that night in Blue Wells, when they got drunk and locked the sheriff in his own cell. And of the incident at the train, when they staged an impromptu battle with the en- gineer and fireman; not knowing what it was all about. He told Hashknife of the man who came along the track in the dark, went into the express car and got the dog. ‘Somebody cut our broncs loose that night,” said Johnny. “I understand that the sheriff’s horses were also turned loose, and it kinda looks as though it was done to prevent a posse from trailin’ ’em. Of gourse, they wouldn’t know that Al Porter was in Encinas, visitin’ his girl, and that the sheriff was in jail.” 65 DOOLK (C@