Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

642 complaint passed his lips; no bitter thought took shape in his mind. He had lost, but he wasn’t going to whine about it. He clucked to the horses and guided them down along the corral fence to the bunk house. The bunk house was dark, which was as it should have been since he had no expectation that any of the men of the outfit would be in for several days. He unhitched the horses and turned them into the corral. He carried harness and blankets into the stable.- In the darkness of the stable a horse whinnied lowly. When he had left that morning there had been no horse in the stable. He moved toward the animal and caught a glimpse of its head in a shaft of moonlight that entered through a square window. Ned Vallon’s horse. Channing was conscious of a quickening of his pulses. He understood now that the prospect of lonesomeness had not been ex- actly intriguing. And he liked Vallon. He left the stable and moved toward the bunk house. He expected Vallon would be in his bunk, and he was slightly startled when he got near the bunk house to hear Vallon’s voice, seeming to come from a point outside the building. *““ Got back, eh?” ¢< Yep.” 3 Channing moved to the front of the bunk house and dropped to a wooden bench. He suddenly felt very tired. As the weariness was mental as well as physi- cal, he was glad that he was in the shadows where the moonlight could not reveal his face to Vallon. Vallon had sharp eyes. “Town quiet?” asked Vallon, after a time. <4 Yep.” “Eve got off on No. ro, I reckon.” ce Yep.” “ Wayne Warren go along?” 73 Yep.” “Mrs. Bailey stoppin’ at Red Mesa?” cc Yep.” “ You sell Warren’s hosses in town?” “Warren sold them.” Vallon lit a match and held it to a ciga- rette. In the light of the match he saw Channing’s face. He frowned as he snapped the match out. “Well,” he said, ‘I reckon the whole - ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. outfit will be feelin’ pretty mean. It was her yearnin’ for Eastern ways that made her hook up to Warren. Mighty natural, come to think of it.” Channing did not answer. He had fig- ured it out for himself and would do no more speculating. “Ten years ain’t so damned long, now is it?” asked Vallon. ‘“ Seems like it ain’t more than that many days since you found Eve an’ her mother on the station platform at Red Mesa an’ brought ’em here. Time does sure skip along. An’ things happen. I’ve been thinkin’ of ol’ Bassett. I knowed right from the first mornin’ after you brought Eve an’ her mother here that Bas- sett would set his cap for Jane. He done so. An’ after he got her he started right in makin’ life a hell for her. You done the world a mighty good turn when you snuifed him out, Channing.” ¢< Yep.” For a while Vallon smoked in silence. He was sitting in a chair near Channing. The chair was tilted back against the front wall of the bunk house. Channing knew Vallon had been waiting for him to get home, to offer what sympathy he could. Channing had no fear that Vallon would be too effusive. “What I can’t understand,” resumed Vallon, “is that after Eve likin’ you so well from the go off, she’d fall in love with Wayne Warren. I reckon she didn’t know him more than three or four months, did she?” ‘Long enough,” said Channing. “Sho! So it was.” A pause. “TI ain't never been let into that secret proper, I reckon. Was young Warren hooked up with Eve’s past life some way?” “Son of her guardian,” answered Chan- ning. “ Vallon, it seems you’ve been left out. It won’t hurt you to know, now, an’ IT reckon it won’t do you any good. ** When I picked up Eve an’ her mother, Jane Winthrop, that day at Red Mesa, they’d got off the train to get away from a fellow named Green. They was members of Green’s theatrical company. Eve had got sick, an’ Jane had got off the train to look for a place where Eve could rest. I brought them here, never thinkin’ that Bas- Commicaoolxs (S@)