The Argosy, March 27, 1920 — page 97: what you’re looking at

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

mp ot ’ _ (e THE TRAIL HORDE, 247 he told Lawler; “ about a dozen. We seen where they’d stopped back in the cafion a ways—where Garvin said he’d seen ’em sneakin’ back. We lost their tracks there, for they merged with ours an’ we couldn’t make nothin’ of ‘em, ‘But at the foot of the slope we picked ‘em up again, Looks like they separated. Some of them went north an’ some went south. I reckon that during the night they sneaked around the edge of the basin. It’s likely they're hidin’ in the timber some- where, watchin’ us. If you say the word Tl take some of the boys an’ rout 'em out. We'll find what they’re up to, damn ’em!” ‘As long as they don’t bother us we won't bother them,” said Lawler. ‘‘ It’s likely they won’t bother us.” Again that night the men worked in ex- tra shifts; and the following morning the herd climbed out of the basin and strag- gled up a narrow trail through some foot- hills. At noon they passed through a defile between two mighty mountains; and when twilight came they had descended some low hills ,en the other side, and went to camp for the night on a big grass level near the river they had followed for three days. The level upon which they camped was much lower than the floor of the big basta, for the water from the river came tumbljng out of a narrow gorge between the hills through which the herd had passed. They were in a wild section, picturesque, rugged. There was plenty of water, and Blackburn and Lawler both knew that there would be water enough for the herd all the way to Red Rock. There was a section of desert before them, which they would strike before many days; but they would cross the desert in one day, barring delay; 4nd there seemed ta be no reason why the long drive should not prove successful de- Spite the mountain trails—most of them hazardous—through which they still must pass. And yet the men were restless. The con- tinued presence of an invisible menace near by disturbed them. They had not seen the mysterious riders again, but there was not a man in the outfit who did not feel them— not a man but was convinced that the riders were still trailing them. Long ago the younger men had ceased to langh and joke. During the day they kept gazing steadily into the gulf of space that surrounded them, carefully scrutinizing the timber and the virgin brush which might form a covert; and at night they were sul- len, expectant, every man wearing his gun when he rolled himself in his blanket. Tt was not fear that had seized them, They were rugged, hardy, courageous men who had looked death in the face many times, defying it, mocking it; and no visible danger could have disturbed them. But this danger was not visible; it was stealthy, secret, lurking near, always threatening, always expected. It might stalk behind them; it might be flanking them as they rode; or it might creep upon them in the night. Blackburn had fallen into a vicious mood. His eyes glowed with the terrible, futile rage that surged in his veins; it was a reflection of a wrath that grew more and more in- tolerant as the days passed and the danger that portended did not materialize. “ Boss,” he said to Lawler on the tenth day following that on which Garvin had reported the presence of the riders behind them, ‘‘ the boys is gettin’ jumpy. They’re givin’ one another short answers, an’ they're growlin’ about little things that they never noticed before. “I’m gettin’ fed up on this thing, too. It’s a cinch them riders is following us. I seen ‘em dustin’ north of us this mornin’. I ain't said anything to the boys, but it’s likely they’ve seen ‘em too—for they've got their eyes peeled. It’s gettin’ under my skin, an’ if they don't come out into the open pretty soon and give us an idea of what game they're playin’, me an’ some of the boys is goin’ to drag ’em out!” Yet Blackburn did not carry out his threat. He knew pursuit of the riders would be futile, for there were no further signs of them for several days, and Black- burn knew the pursuers would have no trouble in eluding them in the vast wilder- ness through which the herd had been pass- ing for a week, They had been on the traf twenty days when at dusk one night they moved slowly down a wide, gradual slope toward a desert, comnliclooolks com