Argosy, Vol. 118, No. 2 — page 138: what you’re looking at

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

288 “Tt was orders, not my wish,” he said, “and we have no strong place to keep fighting men; no strong place but this one.”’ ‘““Is he dangerous?” she asked curiously. “Ts a mild mustang dangerous?” returned the jailer, perfectly willing to retain this beauty in conversation. ‘‘ Is a mountain-lion dangerous when she has hungry young ones in her cave?” “So?” said the girl. took him!” “Tt is true, nodded the jailer, ‘‘ but he took him by a trick. He paid the price of a woman, and for the sake of the woman Dix Van Dyck went with El Tigre.” “Then he is a fool—a donkey,” said the girl scornfully, ‘‘ to have paid so much for a woman. He could buy a dozen women for a tenth of that price.” “Tt is true,” said the jailer. ‘“‘ He is a fool.” “And yet-—” said the girl, and paused. ‘ He has killed men?” : “Count all your pretty fingers and all your little toes, my dear,” said the jailer, ‘and he has killed more men than that.” “Tt is true!” she gasped, incredulous. ‘“‘ El Tigre is not so terrible as that.” “He would eat three like El Tigre,” answered the jailer calmly, ‘‘ and still think he had done a small day’s work. So we took no chances, and put him here. Also, the sheriff ordered that it be done.” “So!” said Dolores. ‘‘ I will go down to look at him.” ‘And yet E! Tigre @ She raised the lantern over her head and peered down the flight of sweating steps with a shudder of disgust. ‘You are not afraid?” queried the jailer in admiration. “Bah!” she said, though her voice was hushed. ‘“ He is soft flesh, and I carry sharp steel.” She touched the hilt of her knife and began to descend the steps with sudden eagerness. ~“ You should have been a man,” said the jailer, calling after her. ‘‘ We could use men like you in the jail.” At the bottom of the steps, as the jailer had promised, she found the bars of steel, and behind them the form of what seemed to Dolores the largest man she had ever seen. It was shadowy at first, and so huge THE ARGOSY. that she stopped short and bit her lip to keep back the cry of terror. Then she made herself approach the bars more closely, holding the lantern as high as she could reach. The light fell on a large, shaggy head, which turned slowly toward her. She stopped short again, awed by the glimmer of the eyes. Then she saw a rough face, unshaven for many days. But the sharp, hard line of jaw and cheekbone could not be disguised by that stubble of unkempt beard. It did not cover the high-arched, cruel nose, nor the shag of eyebrows over the light of the undaunted eyes, nor the straight line of the thin lips. She gazed, fascinated. She drank in every detail of the picture again and again; and still the man stared back unblinking. This man had thrown himself away for the sake of a woman! She would have as soon suspected that there was a heart of love in a wild wolf—a timber wolf, which will attack a man. ‘“T am Dolores,” she said, ‘‘ the daughter of FE] Tigre.” He made no answer. ‘“T have not come to look at you be- cause my father brought you here.”’ Still he would not speak. ‘“T have come because I want to thank you for saving the life of my father, El Tigre. He is like a tiger. He speaks little, but the heart of E] Tigre is heavy because you must die.” The man stood up and looked down at her, and standing erect he was too tall for the ceiling, so that he had to stand with his head bent forward. It gave the impression that he was peering down at her from a great height. ‘Go tell El Tigre, Dolores,” he said, and there was a marvelous lack of harshness in his voice, “‘ that Dix Van Dyck holds no erudge against him. El Tigre is a square shooter. Tell him that Dix Van Dyck says so. And if I ever get out if this hell-hole I’ll never make a move to harm him. Is that clear?” ‘““ Alas! senor, you will never leave this place alive!” ‘““No? Dolores, I’m a hell of a long ways from being dead.” She shook her head. : 7€O WOOL (SG ‘ > (E@)