Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 14, 1928 — page 56: what you’re looking at

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

“494 might not have materialized. Maybe he was only kidding. Anyhow, a rman with two discharges to his credit does not find it so easy to make a new con- nection. “In short,” he gave a rueful smile, “Tt am about in the same fix as a ship- wrecked sailor in a waterlogged boat, with not a sail in sight. “But I want you to believe ’—he pounded his fist down fiercely on the padded arm of his chair—* that no matter if I had all the prospects in the world and a dozen different firms bid- ding for my services, and no matter if the risks here were a hundred times more dangerous than they are, I would still choose to stay in Los Chicos Coun- ty and help you down this crew of crooks and grafters. “‘That’s my case, Miss Todd,” he concluded, rising to his feet and standing before her. “ I need you, and you need me. You can’t fight this gang alone, and I can be of more use to you than anybody else you could probably et. ne So I’m not going to let you with- draw that offer, and I hereby accept it. As you told me to-day, we are going to see this thing through, shoulder to shoulder.” “Well,” she laughed a little un- steadily, “you don’t leave me much choice, do you? I am beginning to be- lieve you are a very dictatorial sort of person, Mr. Norman Rich. So, just to assert my own authority, | am going to order you off now to bed.” | Before he went, though, she shook hands with him on the bargain they had made. And in spite of the day of successive defeats, Norman went to his room with the light step of a con- queror. The glance of admiration she had given him made him feel like a hero. Yet, as he lay awake, the muffled footfall of the guard. pacing beneath his window reminded him that he was in danger, and the recollection of Da Silva’s murderous face as he had seen ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. it peering out through the curtains gave him an involuntary qualm. What had he let himself in for? CHAPTER IX. MOLLY IN A CORNER. ORNING, however, relieved Norman of most of his misgiv- ings—things look differently in the clear light of day—and he descend- ed to breakfast in quite chipper spirits. He had thought he was arising early, and was therefore a little surprised to find Molly at the table before him. She in turn was disposed to scold him for getting up. “ You should have remained in bed and rested this morning,” she said. “Bunk!” he laughed. ‘‘ One sniff of this mountain air is all the recupera- tion I need. Besides, you forget ’ma working man now. I’ve got to be on the job.” Naturally he wanted to know if Da Silva had been caught yet, but she shook her head in answer to the ques- tion. “They have scoured every foot of the estate since daylight,’ she said, “and failed to get a trace of him. Big Bill is unable to understand it. But it must have been that he either got off through one of the passes before the guard was set, or else managed to wriggle past them in the darkness. “TI don’t think we will see anything more of him,” she argued reassuringly. “Even if he were apt to stay in this part of the country himself, and run the risk of capture, the gang would see to it that he cleared out. “He could be of no further value to them now that he has been exposed, and they know that he is a weak-spined creature who would sell them out as readily as he did me. He’s the sort that would commit a cowardly assassi- nation, but if behind the bars, would round on them in a minute to save his own skin. EOPMICL OO KS (©)