Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 18, 1928 — page 88: what you’re looking at

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

886 muddy, I’d have got it back without much trouble, ’cause I was a pretty good swim- mer and diver even if I was getting old. . I dove into that pool all of a dozen times, but I couldn’t see a single thing when I opened my eyes. Nor could my hands grab anything but stones. Then I sat down on the bank, catching up in my breath and trying to figure whether I should follow Red unheeled or pass him up till I could get hold of a gun. I’d about made up my mind that it would be wisest to turn back, when my eyes fell on a big, flat, smooth rock, running from the water to ’way up the bank, farther down stream. That ’d be just the place for Red to crawl out without leaving any traces! So I walks down the side of the creek until I comes to the rock and examines the ground in the back of it. And sure enough, before I’d worked very far, I'd caught Red’s prints in the earth. Then as they led through a lot of heavy brush, I knew it wouldn’t be any trick to follow ’em farther. But what was I to do if I did? I could not nab Red without a gun, ’cause it seemed probable he was well heeled by this time. His partner hadn’t been running around loose for hours for nothing. It was a good bet that he’d slipped him a six-shooter, along with the saw. And if I tried to nab him, it would likely to cost me my life. I guess I’d have beat it back up the creek and tried to get hold of Pete if it hadn’t struck me, all of a sudden, that Red’s trail was leading back toward town. And when I got thinking over the matter, I soon saw that Pete was likely to be just _ as far away from me as Highridge was, and a darn sight harder to find. So it seemed like the best plan to follow Red’s trail, so long as it kept heading back toward town. _ Of course I wasn’t figuring on trying to make any pinch—not with a bird like him, and me without a gun. But I doped it out I’d be slick enough to follow the trail for a ways without Red getting wise. Then T could cut over to Highridge for another shooting iron, along with some of the boys, and come back and round him up. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. Crawling along as quiet as I could, I followed Red’s tracks through the brush. For almost a mile they seemed to lead straight back to town. Then they started to cut a little to the right, leaving me puz- zled what to do. There was an old cabin down in the hol- low where Red’s trail seemed to head for. Hadn’t I better sneak down? It didn’t seem [’d run much risk if I took it cautious like. When I got in sight of the cabin, I creeps into a thick clump of bushes and gives it the once-over. It stood in a little clearing, its rough logs brightened with the morning sun. As I took it in with all eyes, I got a hunch there was somebody inside of the cabin. The door was half open, and every now and then it seemed like I could catch some sort of a sound. But even if there was, it didn’t neces- sarily have to be Red. It might be some harmless traveler who had put up there for the night. As I didn’t like to turn back without knowing just who was in that cabin, I made up my mind to sneak a little closer. Even if it was Red, I figured, I’d take good care he’d never get his peepers on me. So I crawls through the bushes and trees to the nearest point to the cabin where I couldn’t be seen. When I gets behind a low, thick scrub- pine, not more than a hundred feet from the back window, I parts the branches, careful like, and peeps in. And what I saw gave me the joy of my life! Bent over a little table, his head in his hands, sat Red Garlow! And that wasn’t all—right in front of him stood Sam with a scowl on his face! What luck! I wouldn’t have to go back to town for a gun and the boys at all. Somehow, Sam had been smarter in the woods than I thought. He’d nailed Red Garlow all by his loneself while I’d been wasting my time stumbling through creeks and crawling through brush! I’d have to congratulate him right away. Rushing across the little clearing and around to the door, I burst into the cabin. Gomichbooks (E(0)