Adventure Magazine Cover — page 80: what you’re looking at

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

78 “Me?” whispered Barnhardt. why—I don’t know—”’ “Do yuh want me to tell it?” Barnhardt’s legs jiggled nervously and he wet his lips with his tongue, while his Adam’s apple jiggled convulsively. “‘There’s nun-nothing to—to—”’ “Then I’ll tell it,” said Hashknife. “And if Mr. Barnhardt don’t stand still, keep his hands where they are and not try to scratch his ribs around the spot where his gun hangs in a shoulder-holster, I’ll betcha somebody will add him to the list of casualties. “Mr. Barnhardt is a cousin of Mrs. Martha Eaton, of Chicago, who owns this ranch. For several years Mr. Barnhardt has handled all the affairs of the X Bar 6. In fact, he grew rich, handling her stock interests. But she was a simple old lady, with quite extensive holdings, and she had faith in Mr. Barnhardt. “Now, if I make any mistakes, I hope Mr. Barnhardt won’t interrupt, until I’m finished. A short time ago Mrs. Eaton became an invalid, and was unable to handle her own business. I reckon the doctors have told her that she won’t live more than one year more. “Still bein’ of sound mind, she decided to make out a will, and in this will she goes kinda hay-wire, like old folks do, sometimes; so she picks out a young feller, whose name was James Eaton Legg, a son of her sister, and wills him the X Bar 6, with the provi- sion that within a year he be able to pre- sent proof that he is capable of runnin’ this here ranch. “And about that time she turns her affairs over to Leesom and Brand, a law firm in Chicago, who, after lookin’ things over, decides that the returns from the X Bar 6 need investigatin’. It kinda looks to them as though that ranch ought to pay more dividends. Accordin’ to their reports, there’s too many cows out here, and not enough revenue. “‘They takes it up with the Cattle Asso- ciation of this here State, the same of which sends me and Sleepy up here to work on the round-up and send in a tally of the X Bar 6. It appears that Jimmy Legg accidentally drifts in here, tryin’ make a cowpuncher out of himself; and our friend Barnhardt, knowin’ that Jimmy might beat him out of a lot of money, decides to put him out of commission. “And I’m not sure, but I think Mr. “Why— W. C. TUTTLE Barnhardt stole one of my letters from the Chicago lawyers, and found out what we was doin’ here; so he plants dynamite under the bunk-house, after he misses two well- meant shots. Oh, he was a friendly sort of a jigger. Now, Barnhardt, tell us yore story.” But the Blue Wells attorney merely gog- gled, trying to deny it all with a shake of his head. “You planned to make a getaway, yuh know,” smiled Hashknife. ‘“Yore little vacation was goin’ to be permanent, but I cracked yore safe the night before, because I knew yuh wouldn’t go away broke, and I wanted time to land the train robbers. Yeah, I’ve got all yore stuff. It'll send yuh over for a long time.” “This is funny,” said Tex Alden. “TI had a letter from that same firm, askin’ me a few questions. It kinda looked to me as though Barnhardt was playin’ crooked; so I held out that eight thousand and faked a loss to Antelope Neal, who was in on the game with me. I wanted to see if Barnhardt was crooked enough to doctor the books for me, but he was pretty shrewd, and I really got afraid he might have me arrested for embezzlement and put me in pretty bad; so me and Neal marked all those bills and I gave ’em back to him.” Hashknife held out his hand to Tex. “T couldn’t figure yuh out for quite a while,”’ said Hashknife smiling. ‘“‘Barnhardt sure tried to put me in bad, Hartley. He told me about that pay-roll comin’ in, because he thought I’d do any- thin’ to pay him back that eight thousand, and he also wanted his split of the thirty thousand dollars.” Jimmy had gone to the house, and now he came staggering back, followed by Ge- onimo, barking joyfully. The sheriff turned from handcuffing Barnhardt, and stared at the dog. “We had him in the cellar,’ laughed Hashknife. ‘‘He’s the dog that was on the express car, and Jimmy Legg is the big burly who fought with the messenger.” The boys crowded around Jimmy, slap- ping him on the back; which, under the cir- cumstances, did not appeal to Jimmy, who was just beginning to find out how sore he really was. “Lemme alone, you man-chasers!”’ he yelped. “I was tough for an hour or so, but I’m sure tender now.” EO NOOK (©