Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 28, 1928 — page 60: what you’re looking at

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

490 We are two cow-punchers drifting by who accepts your kind invite for a feed.” He stood there dumfounded, with his gray eyes wide open. Shorty and [ jumps off our hosses. ‘“ Where does we plant said remains, Mr. Leary?” I asks, as if we were de- livering goods. “TIL be damned!” foreman. “ Mebbe, never can tell,” Shorty seriously. The girl’s eyes danced, I think with pleasure. Perhaps it was onusual for her to have two huskies on her side of an ar- gument. exclaims that drawls CHAPTER XIII. SIX-GUN LAW. EARY kind of came to life. “This is a shock,” he said slowly. ‘I don’t want to ap- pear to be uncivil.” “No, ’tain’t healthy,” opines Shorty guilelessly. “But we rode the range for thirty, or thirty-five miles yesterday, looking for Miss Renwood, without the slight- est result. We alls have been worried ’most to death, and her father was ‘near out of his mind. Course I invites you boys to dinner. [’ll help you with Dick’s body; we will carry it over toa little storeroom next to the bunk house for now.” : The girl watched us as we unloaded the rigid form, and then turned sud- denly and went indoors. She had been bearing up bravely, in front of us, but I was sure I saw the trace of tears in her eyes. Me, I had two things to stay for— the first to find the how and where- fore of that stolen hoss, and the second to lie for that girl. With the shock she had been under, she would not be able to stand the pressure of much questioning alone. ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. We carried the body of the dead boy to a cubbyhole next to the bunk house, dark as a hole, and deposited it on a bench. , Leary stayed right with us while we attended to watering and feeding our hosses, and even showed us the stalls in the stable where we might put them for the time being. Meantime, as a matter of course, I tells him *bout coming on Miss Ren- wood and the young feller, the last nearly dead, how we repulsed the sav- ages and breaks through to safety dur- ing the night. ‘ How far away-was that—er—” “Harry Flint,” I tells him, “ and this is Shorty, my pal. Oh, as to dis- tance, I can’t rightly say. We-wanders slow at night and takes our time. This is new country to me, and I can’t figure out miles at all.” “No,” says Shorty, scratching the back of his neck, “‘ nor me neither.” “ The young lady tells us the two of them was out riding, were pursued by the redskins, and final’ had to make a stand when their hosses go down. The pore thing is all upset from what she has gone through.” “Well, well. Her father will be in- terested some in your story and hers,” replies Leary, looking as if he was sure we were lying; but that does not faze us none to speak about. “Mr. Renwood and the boys has all gone to Gorge City. I was halfway there and had to lope back for a docu- ment. But ’'m going into town after supper. Want to come along?” he asks eagerly. “Shore,” I said; and I meant it more than he knew at that time. There is no reg’lar porch, but where the dirt has been packed hard by hard usage there is a long wooden bench. Shorty and me seats ourselves. Leary stood before us, obscuring the view some, puffing at a cigarette. I al- lows he would like to stay with us like a plaster, but same isn’t exactly possi- ble, for different reasons. ‘ EORMICGLOOOKS (C@)