The Argosy, Vol. 75, No. 4 — page 112: what you’re looking at

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

‘What is it, Natalie?’ Alice cried, dropping on her knees and flinging an arm over the little girl as if trying to protect her from some catastrophe. “They know M. Seelsby has seen the broken locks! They know we know he was threatened with death here! They would know that even eef he signed he could prove that eet was forced, that they had won the signa- ture through torture! They know he would set about to prove that the mo- ment he was free! O-h, they weel nevaire let heem go! ‘They dare not! They weel keel heem; and we weel nevaire know what had really hap- pened to heem! He weel be hidden in these awful rocks somewhere—some- where — somewhere —-[ can nevaire find heem! -I can nevaire find heem! ” Natalie’s voice had risen with the same flaming energy that sends a fire leaping to the pinnacle of a_ tower. Every word seemed to burn with more vivid horror. Silsby felt the chill prickle of terror run over him. Alice Thorpe, for once utterly un- like her competent, cool-headed self, stood beside the bed with the water she had brought for Natalie in a tin cup shifting in spray toward the floor as her hand trembled. Both of them saw with the clear- ness of Natalie’s vision the same pic- ture that had lent her words their force; they saw Ted Radford’s body lying in some crevice of the rocks, hidden from all but the sight of minds as intensely moved as theirs was un- der the spell of the little lady’s word- painting. “Tt’s the truth!” Silsby finally mut- tered. “They'll git him, an’ they'll never dare let him get away! On- less—”’ Even Alice, disliking Radford as she did, looked up into Silsby’s face, seek- ing for some slight hint on which to fix one bit of hope. Natalie gazed at him with the wild longing of the de- spairing. “ Onless—he kin escape! the nerve and the wits!” He’s got THE ARGOSY.~ ‘ But he ees weak! He has been ill! How can he get away from them? They weel watch heem every second!” Natalie cried. Silsby was silent. A conviction had been growing upon him that they were face to face with conditions which came from deeper sources and were the results of more complicated plots than they knew. If Gill or Watson had managed to make way with Bullen and to fix the guilt of his death on Radford, from whom they wanted to secure the deed for which Bullen had been searching, it was impossible to guess the intri- cacies with which they had worked up to the climax of Bullen’s death. It was equally impossible to guess what they would do with Radford. Certainly one fact stood out of all the confusion. ‘The Cochinino Mine was valuable. It was worth killing and doing every other kind of dirty work just to get possession of a third interest in it. For almost twenty years its value had been overlooked. At least, so it seemed to Silsby. Now, with murder and mystery too deep for him to read, the old claim had reasserted its right to attention. “What weel you do, M. Seelsby?”’. Natalie asked, bringing the ranch- owner out of the troubled whirl of his own thoughts to face the need of quick action. “Gosh, if I know! I told the boys that’s out huntin’ to bring the fust news they got ur the fust Double X-er they caught right hyah. I'll be round hyah to take keer uv whatever comes up! Ef I could git hold uy Gill his- se’ f— “Can’t you with all your men?” Natalie exclaimed. “Tl try. Red’s got enuff spleen in him to enjoy gittin’ a holt uv Gill ur Sykes. He'll gobble a chanct to git even on them thar steers.”’ Without further parley Silsby went out of the big room and down the trail to the spring. In ten minutes he had COPMICLOOOKS (E©)