Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 154: what you’re looking at

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

Le! y } t ft tt as ae | (S - ‘ : _ with the cauliflower ears. _ Andy Gregg. _ Laughter. _ anger refused to generate. His head ached. 464 what had happened before they told him. And it was this knowledge which had sobered him. The little man was a crack shot. Might easily have shot him—hbetween the eyes. The little devil. He hadn’t in- tended hurting him, either. A slow rage developed, grew upon him. “The bad man of Banter Mountain! Ho, ho, ho—” It was the young man with the cauliflower ears again, safely ensconced behind the redwood bar. - Smiles appeared to vanish abruptly as Butch Keever sprang to his feet, gun in hand. Six shots brought a flutter of splin- ters from the bar behind which the young man was hiding. Following the sixth shot his head came to sight. He stuck thumb to nose, wriggled his fingers derisively, then scuttled away, still laughing, followed by -Keever’s gun. TT, ButcH KEEVER was roused next morn- ing from his bed, which was the floor of - Dugan’s back room, by a bucketful of dirty water, which water held a taste and smell ~ unpleasantly reminiscent of stale beer. His __ eyes struggled open just in time to catch a _. ‘glimpse of Dugan’s red head, as it disap- “peared around a corner. - miserable to be angry. Everything had Butch was too gone wrong. First, it was the sheep herder’s whisky. Then, Kid Goler, the young fellow : The fiasco with And now—this. He could hear Squint Dugan’s shrill voice, raised high, telling all about how he had doused the bad man of Banter Mountain. And still Butch .Keever’s ready His mouth was parched and dry. He was ‘sad. Very sad. He had been imposed upon, that was what it amounted to. Every one and every- thing had conspired to make him miserable, to spoil his good time. A sudden, violent distaste for Squint Dugan and his troupe of unsavory hangers on ensued, Continued laughter, came from the next room. Butch swore and groped painfully to his feet. Times had Indeed changed. They were not afraid of him, these young roughnecks. half suppressed, -But—they ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY, © couldn’t laugh at him—and get away with it. He clumped out into the main room. Dugan, Goler, and several others were gathered about a table, talking, laughing. When they saw him, they sobered. “Ready t’ go, Butch?” ‘Go where?” 3 “Wy, you know. We framed it all up las’ night, T’ Andy Grege’s place.” Butch stared uncomprehendingly. Shook his head slowly. ‘J don’t remember—nothin’—” Kid Goler shrugged, spat disgustedly. * Vella—like I said. I told you—” ‘* Jest a minnit, Kid. Butch, he’s kinda woozy. He'll remember—all right, ” Du- gan closed his good eye in a wink. Butch did his best, but; the last thing he could recall was hurling his empty gun at Kid Goler’s retreating figure. _ He shook his head again. ‘“W’y, it was like this, Butch. You swore t’ git even with that little runt, see? We framed it all up las’ night. We wuz t’ git away come sunup. He on’y lives a ways back in the hills. The Kid here knows where.” ‘Sure, you remember now, don’t you, Butch?” Kid Goler tried his hand at re- freshing the big man’s memory. “The little skunk, he aimed to kill you, that’s what he did. If you let him get away with it—he’ll—he’ll probably try it again. But that ain’t all—the boys gave you the laugh. You remember that, don’t you? They think you’re afraid—afraid—” “Who, me? Afraid?” Butch refused to believe his ears. This angle of the Gregg business had not occurred to him. ‘Sure. Why not? You let him get away, didn’t you. An’ you never said a word. ‘They gave you the razz fer keeps, If you don’t take Andy Grege apart, your name is mud around these diggings from now on.” Goler waited for this to sink in. It sunk. Keever. moistened his dry lips nervously, His big hands clenched and unclenched. “Now, I was only kiddin’ yistiddy, Butch. Me, I’m a good fren’ 0’ yourn, I'll go along with you, see? Jeff Bran- der ‘ll tag along, too. Jest in case some- eg an) caaies (S@) co