Argosy and Railroad Man's Magazine — page 30: what you’re looking at

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

372 ARGOSY AND RAILROAD MAN’S MAGAZINE. “Exactly. He'll never use his ‘proois. We're in too far to halt now, if matters come to the point of his trying to use them. He has a grip on us in one way;- he knows we can’t declare his father, Joe Weir, did the killing; that would make us—what do you call it, Senator?” ‘““Accomplices after the fact. Besides, it would then come out that we had taken over and shared among us his stuff—fifty thousand apiece. It’s a deplorable situa- tion we’re in, gentlemen; deplorable. If we were but able to start the story Joe Weir believed and fled because of, it would cut the ground out from under this man’s feet at once.” “It’s him we'll cut, not the ground under him,” Burkhardt growled, thrusting his hairy chin forward toward the lawyer. “And cut his damned throat.” “T hate to think of our being forced to— to homicide; even justifiable homicide.” ~ “Homicide nothing! It’s just killing a rattlesnake waiting in the brush to strike. That’s the way we used to do in the old days; and if he’s going to bring them back, that’s what we'll do again.” Sorenson smiled grimly. “We'll wait till we’re sure he has the proofs, then—” “Then we'll act quick and sure,” Vorse shot out. “And quietly,” the cattleman added. “We'll take no more chances this time. It will be arranged carefully beforehand; all four of us will be in it, of course—equal responsibility—and there’ll be no wit- nesses.” Senator Gordon’s face wore a pallid, sickish look. “T hope to God there’s some other way out of it,” he muttered. “So do all of us,” Burkhardt snarled. ‘But if there isn’t, it means guns—for you, along with the rest of us.” The big cattleman leaned forward and gazed from under his heavy brows, com- pelling Gordon to meet his fixed look. “You were keen enough at the time for your share of Joe Weir’s stuff, and: to get rid of him as a Legislative candidate, know- ing he would probably beat you,” he said. “So you'll play the hand out to the end now, the bad cards as well as the good. You're no better than the rest of us, and it was you who hatched the scheme for clean- ing him up, and put over the story.” “T know, I know. But—but this would be too much like cold-blooded murder.” “Murder!” Sorenson grated. “ Did you look straight into this fellow Weir’s eyes? Didn’t you see something there that re- sembled murder? He’d like only the chance to kill us one by one with his own hands. I saw that much. Just as Burk- hardt said, it’s him or us. After you told me about him, I had only to-take one look. “Tf he has the goods on us—well, he’ll have to die. Make up your mind to that. - We're back to the time of thirty years ago, and fighting for our lives. We're not only all in on the Weir job, but the Dent killing —all of us. If the facts become known, well be run into some other county and court and hung. And every enemy we’ve made in these years past will put up his ° head and clamor for our blood. Let that sink into your mind.” The effect of this low, fierce utterance was to hammer the truth home. Gordon was ashen. Vorse’s face appeared like an evil mask. Burkhardt glowered savagely. At that instant there sounded the faint report of a shot from the street. Then, as the group sat unmoving, rigid, keyed to the highest pitch of expectancy, there followed quickly two more shots. Afterward, a hush. ‘A gun-play!” issued from Vorse’s lips softly. They all sprang up to hurry to the door. CHAPTER VI. A SHOT IN THE DARK. TEELE WEIR, driving his car down the street in the dusk, had caught sight of Felipe Martinez standing near Sorenson’s office. He stopped close by; beckoned. Martinez would do as well as another. “You're a notary, I suppose?” he ques- tioned. “Yes, Mr. Weir. Most of us lawyers here are,” he replied politely, when he had ad- vanced. COMIC DOOL<S COM