Argosy, Vol. 118, No. 2 — page 148: what you’re looking at

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

298 barrier or flesh through which it was im- possible for those behind to fire effectively at Van Dyck or the Indian. They began to brandish knives and revolvers over their _heads—the few that had them—and shots. were fired wildly in the air. Van Dyck: loaded his guns again and emptied them a second time. Then he sprang like a Norseman gone berserk with fighting madness on the backs of the fugi- tives. He caught his revolvers by the bar- rels and with these heavy clubs in his strong hands every biow, nearly, brought down a man... Not that they all fled blindly. There were brave men in that crowd, though all were at first unnerved by the unexpected attack. Here and there men began to turn —fire—or raise a knife. But they met either the bullet of Van Dyck or the deadly steel of the Indian. For E] Tigre was drunk with delight. He leaped here and there like a leaf jerked about by a crazy wind that blows from all directions, and wherever he leaped he struck, and wherever he struck he yelled in a way that curdled the blood and rose over the confused raging of the crowd. A deadly fighter, but mild indeed, com- pared with the raging of the gigantic white man. He fought with his lips writhed back from set: teeth, and through those set teeth he laughed continually—a strange, ghastly sound. He broke the barrel of one gun, and then he threw them both aside and fought with his bare fists—weapons scarcely less terrible, for though they might not kill, they drove out with the force of pistons and where they struck men groaned and fell. It was one of these who had fallen ‘who recovered his senses almost at once and raising himself on his belly with his hands saw the two destroyers raging on the heels of the crowd which gave back in a rapidly widening semicircle. A thousand strange deeds had been per- formed, and yet the entire fight had covered only a small space of seconds. He saw them fleeing, struggling to get away from the nameless danger behind them. And the little man noted that there were only two who drove so many. He noted that, and it gave him courage; also, his THE ARGOSY. throat was burning with a fecent draught of mescal. So he drew a long-bladed jack-knife, and running low, like a four-footed animal, came behind E] Tigre in the midst of his work, leaped into the air, and smote the indian in the middle of the back to the full length of his blade. The Indian turned and struck at his assailant, but the knife dropped from his hand. He coughed blood and fell forward on his face. That was the turning point of the battle. The vast majority were fleeing; there re- mained only the armed men who had the courage to fight. And these now turned their faces and rushed at Dix Van Dyck. A dozen shots whirred past him: but his thought was first for vehgeance for El Tigre. It was not long in coming. The little man who had struck the blow came again and leaped once more into the air, like a cat. In the midst of his leap the piston-rod arm of Van Dyck plunged out and met him in the face. The blow smashed his nose and gashed his cheek; he went back as though recoiling from a spring, and landed, head-first, on the ground. : A fury was on Van Dyck —a frenzy which trebled his enormous © natural strength. For he caught up the fallen man by the heels, whirled him high over: his head, and cast him into the faces of his foes. It checked them; it sent their shots wild; but the life of Van Dyck was limited — by a matter of seconds only when some- thing like Providence struck for him. It was Dolores. At first she saw only a confused mass of struggling figures as the two men plunged out of the jail and met their assailants. When the semicircle near- est the door cleared, and she watched the terrible fighting of her father and the big white man. A grim thing, but glorious to the wild heart of Dolores. She had stood in her stirrups and yelled her delight. And now she saw the crowd surge back against the two men; saw her father struck down from behind; saw Van Dyck smite down the slayer and then cast the senseless body in the faces of the crowd. At that deed her blood drove from. her heart to her brain. She swung the head of (€(0) 0)(0\(6) ANG <S (E@)