The Argosy, Vol. 82, No. 3 — page 185: what you’re looking at

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

THE OLD WEST road and dropped them a yard or more to the foot of a rocky shelf. Reeves, underneath, struck on his back, and the shock almost unhinged his joints and set the breath churning between his teeth. Rayner had a momentary advan- tage, but his weapons had been torn from his hands and were no longer to figure in the fight. “Something told me it would come to this!” hissed Gentleman Jim, his face twist- ing with fury. “It’s worth the price just to settle with you!” His fingers clamped about Reeves’s throat and exerted a steady, strangling pres- sure. It flashed over the Tenderfoot that he must do something before his strength failed if he was to save himself: Wheezing and gasping, he rallied every muscle for the attempt. Half-turning un- der the knee that pinioned his breast, he caused Rayner to lose his balance and fall sideways. The grip of the hands relaxed and Reeves wriggled clear. Both he and the gambler regained their feet at the same moment. Rayner stooped quickly to gather up one of the revolvers and, then and there, a coppery face over- shadowed by a battered top hat appeared behind him. As the gambler straightened he was seized from the rear, hurled backward and the weapon wrenched from his hand. “Ugh!” grunted Lightning-That-Strikes. “You want um Injun shoot, huh? You heap bad tinhorn. Mebbyso Jack plug you?” Even then, confronted by a redskin who had been robbed, and whose heart thirsted for revenge, Rayner would not yield.. He leaped recklessly at the Ute, stumbling on a stone and falling headlong just as the re- volver exploded. Gentleman Jim owed his life to that stumble, for the bullet fanned the air above his head and sent up a spurt of sand from the ground beyond. The Indian, vicious as a coiled rattlesnake, would have fired again had not the Tenderfoot grabbed his arm quickly. “No, Jack,” panted Reeves, “make a prisoner of him.” They thereupon fell upon Gentleman Jim and held him struggling on the ground, while a swarm of men from the camp dropped off the trail to the shelf. “Let me at him!” roared Colonel Chet Hungerford valiantly. “I’d have wound up PER CONTRACT. 559 his little ball of yarn at the hotel if he hadn’t caught me unawares.” “T saw you, colonel,” jeered Billy Vince, “and you fell all over yourself to give him the hotel cash.” “Turn him over, hands behind his back,” said Lafe Smedders. “I got a rope here, and we'll get it on him. He put one on me, last night, an’ I’m shore pinin’ to play even.” Castle and Robbins helped, and the gam- bler’s arms were quickly bound at his back. “What happened at the Bazar?” asked Reeves; “‘does anybody know?” “He cleaned out the Bazar,” answered Golshaw, ‘‘same as he did Robbins’s chest. Thunder, but he and the don were doing a land-office business for a while! I don’t reckon they left a gold-piece on anybody in the camp. However, did you and the judge stop ’em, Reeves?” ‘“‘Nobody was hurt at the Bazar?” con- tinued Reeves. “Some scared, I allow, but not hurt.” “How did the judge make out with the don? I’ve been too busy with Rayner. to pay much attention to the judge.” “T’ve got my man, Reeves,” called the judge’s voice from the trail, “and I was just about ready to help you when the In- dian took a hand.” ‘Where are the horses?” “They ran back toward camp,” said Cas- tle, “and Catamount Cal and Handy caught them.” Reeves, bruised and sore, climbed back into the trail. Ree Middling handed him his hat and brushed off his clothes. Luck had been with Reeves and the judge; and the camp, looted and the loot recovered, might well rejoice. CHAPTER XII. PURE GOLD. ENTLEMAN JIM and the don, bound with ropes, were removed to the Spread Eagle Hotel. A sorry appearance the two presented, with their bruises and their torn and dusty clothes. The Spartan spirit of the gambler, how- ever, kept him head and shoulders above his troubles. He had played a reckless game, and he had lost. It was not the first time. The ironical smile about his lips faded a little only when his eyes fell on Juan Rosario Rayner. (EO) OOO K< (E@)