The Argosy, Vol. 82, No. 3 — page 172: what you’re looking at

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

546 his aching head. This had tonic effects, and lessened the pain and put fresh vigor into his body. “Here’s a go!” he muttered, after he had risen to his feet and dried his face on a handkerchief. “Two men made an attack on me in Nugget Notch, and while my wits were wool-gathering they brought me here and left me. Who were the men? And why did they bring me to this place?” He had two enemies at the Notch—Ray- ner and Don Quesada. ‘They must have been the ones who struck him down and carried him out of the camp. He did not know this certainly, for he had not recognized either of the men at the time of the attack, but the logic of cir- cumstances indicated Gentleman Jim and the don. What was the motive behind the treachery? The gambler was suspicious of Reeves, and had shown this often and in many ways. Reeves had seen the linked nuggets in Rayner’s possession; Reeves had avowed his determination to protect Lady Ann, and Reeves had gone to live at the judge’s. Had all this any bearing on what had happened to Reeves during the night? Lady Ann may have been watched when paying her visit to Judge Brand, and when she left the judge’s she and Reeves may have been spied upon. And what had the girl said? Rayner had made a demand on Ezra Bobbett and accompanied it with threats. The girl’s call on the judge had perhaps aroused the gambler’s apprehensions re- garding the success of his scheme. It was possible that he had tried to clear Reeves out of the way, for a time, so that his con- spiracy might win. “Yes,” muttered Reeves darkly, “‘Rayner and Quesada were the ones. Perhaps I could not prove it positively, but I am sure of it in my own mind. [If they wanted me out of the way, though, why did they leave me here? They must have known I could get back to Nugget Notch.” He started around the walls looking for a way out. When he had finished a com- plete tour of the basin it dawned upon him that his two enemies had planned more in- telligently than he had imagined. He was in a pocket of the hills, and could find no way over the low cliffs. It was a peculiar—even a desperate—situation, but Reeves had to take it as he found it. He was in a cul-de-sac, closed at both ends. THE ARGOSY. At the foot of the wall where Reeves had first recovered his senses there lay a thirty- foot rope. It must have been a loop of this rope that he remembered to have pulled from under his arms on first coming to him- self in the pocket. The wall at this place was an overhang, and the top of the out- jutting rock formed a shelf twenty-five feet above him. Reeves, it followed, had been lowered into the basin from the shelf, and the rope dropped after him. It had been easy enough for Rayner and Quesada. Reeves sat down in the shade of the overhang to think the situation over. . In the first place, he did not think he could be far from Nugget Notch. He did not believe he had remained unconscious very long after the attack, and his enemies would not have had time to carry him a great distance. His first hurried examination had shown him no way out of that hole in the hills. He was a prisoner in the pocket, with plenty of water, but not a morsel of food. Did Rayner and Quesada intend to leave him there to starve to death? If the gam- bler entertained such an idea he was de- luding himself—so far as his schemes against the Bobbetts were concerned. Judge Brand knew what was going on, and he had his liberty. Furthermore, Reeves’s sudden and mys- terious disappearance from the camp would start an investigation. The judge would suspect that Reeves had been a victim of foul play, and would turn instantly to Gentleman Jim as the one back of it. “The judge will find me down here,” the Tenderfoot assured himself. ‘All I have to do is to wait.” Reeves pushed his fingers up into his hair. The blows dealt him in the night had left swollen places, tender to the touch. These were his only injuries, and could easily be borne. Already he was feeling almost as well as ever. If he had only had something to eat he would have been quite himself. A whisper of sound came to him from the direction of the little stream and the mesquite bushes. Shifting his gaze sud- denly, he saw the gaunt, tawny body of a coyote, half-revealed among the brush-tops. The brute stood looking at him with glit- tering eyes. Picking up a fragment of stone, Reeves hurled it. The coyote ducked away, cleared Gomichoo (C <S) (C@)