The Argosy, Vol. 75, No. 4 — page 57: what you’re looking at

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

MESQUITE RANCH. Silsby, the owner of; the Mesquite, had gone off westward, swearing vengeance on the Gill bunch. He was in the black rage that made him fa- mous in the country. Anything, beast or boy, of the Double X that happened to come on his trail stood the best chance of speedy dissolution possible. A bunch of his cattle had disap- peared. ‘The Double X-ers were blamed, and it was actually an armed posse of cow-men who could shoot too straight for the comfort of their ene- mies that accompanied the ranch- owner to the western limits of his range. Big Red, the foreman, was _ short- handed, and took Radford gladly. In the close association that the heavy work made necessary Radford was soon imbued with the hatred of the Double X-ers and loyalty to the Mes- quite. Gill of the Double X was plainly a human hog who grabbed at every advantage and kept hunting for more in the spots where Silsby wanted to feed his steers. Dog-tired, Radford slid from his horse in front of the ranch-house and let his weary pony amble off toward the corral. He had been in the sun and dust all day, herding cattle pos- sessed of all the devils that could get into them. The smell of bacon came to him invitingly. Suddenly his eyes fastened on a dark spot approaching from the east. He watched, not yet familiar with the © various objects that might come up from the horizon and into the neigh- borhood of the ranch-house. The dark spot grew and grew. Then he knew that only a bunch of cattle could cover so much space and move so quickly. His first thought was that the lost herd for which Silsby had gone to search was coming back. But the cattle were far to the west and would scarcely have made such a détour as to be approaching from the east. He ran toward the corral, shouting for Big Red. But already half a dozen cowboys were perched on.the high fence, staring at the dark spot. Big Red was among them. He suddenly burst into a flood of language that contmanded the attention of the others. “Them critters is a comin’ from the Apache Spring!”’ he concluded. 759 A mumble of surprise and gathering — anger ran along the row of cowboys. “Gill’s fellers is a drivin’ ’em off, confound ’em! ” Big Red steadily assumed a deeper and deeper tinge of the color that had gained him his name. His originally fair face blazed under the tan till it looked ready to set fire to his features, and his hair gave the impression of having its roots fed at the rage which seethed in the brain it thatched. The Apache Spring was a liquid bone of contention. To the east it was the one place large enough to water herds of any considerable size. ‘To beth ranches, the Mesquite and the Double X, it was of great importance. It was not unusual for the cowboys to meet and fight for possession of its invaluable waters. But tt was consid- ered the decent thing not to disturb a herd when it had had possession sev- eral days and was without any of its cow-men to fight for its right. Red guessed that the Double X-ers had heard of Silsby’s absence west- ward and had decided to amuse them- selves by interfering with the bunch of cattle quartered on the range near the spring. It was twelve miles to the Apache waters. In ten minutes Big Red gal- loped off at the head of the eight punchers he could take. Radford, tired as he was, thrilled with the in- terest and anger of a loyal Mesquiter, led out a big black horse that Silsby himself often rode and cinched the saddle-girth with a feeling of excite- ment, He galloped along with the others. He had thoroughly absorbed the ranch loyalty which was as much a part of a cow-man’s life as taking the money he earned. The feeling invested a pe- culiarly hard kind of work with the SJ EORMICLOO (C@