Argosy (UK), January 1955 — page 127: what you’re looking at

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

CAPTAIN LIGHTFOOT 125 But it was not quite as simple as Michael imagined it would be. Long before dawn he was as lame as the black horse had been, and ached all over as if he’d been beaten with clubs ; and finally he fell down on a bank in the darkness and lay panting and unable to” continue. He fought hard against sleep, but at last it overcame him, and it was more like coma than true sleep, and he did not wake until the sun was shining in his face. He sat up with a start. There was a thicket just beyond him, and he saw eyes peering through the brush, regarding him as a hawk regards a rabbit. And then he looked down at his mud- covered gentleman’s clothes, and he noticed that his pistols and his _ammunition were gone, and then he grabbed for his purse and found that it had disappeared also. He looked at the thicket again and heard a jeering laugh, and then a big rough head was thrust out at him and he saw that it was the head of a huge man in old, patched country clothes. The man had a thatch of thick, curly black hair, and his fat, rugged face was almost as dark as an Italian’s. He jeered at Michael and showed the pistols he was holding in his huge, hairy hands. Michael was almost bursting with rage. ‘‘ Who the devil are you?” he shouted belligerently. And the man jeered back: ‘‘ Who the devil are you? ” Michael glanced up above him, where there seemed to be a road of some kind. And then before he could speak, a strange look came over the man’s face and he seemed to be listening, and all at once he ducked back into the thicket, and Michael felt a vibration along the ground, and then he heard the noise of a cavalcade, and in a moment he caught the flash of a helmet, and with a sudden twist of his body he rolled into a little hollow which was screened from the road by a low bush. A score of dragoons thundered past overhead, and when the hoofbeats had died away, the big shaggy man came out from his hiding-place and stood staring strangely at Michael. ‘‘ Lobsters, they was,” called the man. ‘‘ Why didn’t you cry out? ”’ Michael had a sudden thought and called back, “‘ How many buttons on your coat? ”’ To Michael’s surprise, the man leapt into the air and gave a loud shout, then he bellowed: ‘‘ Why, five minus one, sir! ”’ And then, laughing, he came up to Michael and handed back his pistols and his purse. “ I took you for a lord, sir,”’ he said, touching his cap respectfully. ** What’s your name? ”’ * Kevin White—and they call me Kev, and sometimes the Black One because of my complexion.” “Did you ever hear of Captain Martin? ” **T did, sir. The one who is in Dublin, and is friend with the quality, and is taking money off them. We’ve all heard of late.” Michael took two guineas out of his purse and handed them to comicloooks.comn