Argosy, Vol. 118, No. 2 — page 149: what you’re looking at

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

CROSSROADS. her horse about, looped the reins of the great charger of Dix Van Dyck over the pommel of her saddle, and driving the rowels.of her spurs deep into the flanks of her own tall horse, galloped against the fighters. She caught her own rein over the crook of her arm, snatched out the two re- volvers*and fired blindly to left and right, yelling at the top of her shrill voice. It was too much for the courage of the crowd. Already they saw the ground be- fore them littered with the bodies of dead, wounded, and stunned men; there were some among them who had already felt the knife of El Tigre or the fist of Dix Van Dyck. And at this sudden onslaught from the side they raised a shout of dismay and split before the coming of Dolores like water before the prow of a ship. Into the mass she drove. Her horse, rearing, struck out in a panic of terror, and men went down before those ponderous, armed hoofs. She felt the horse reel and stagger as his hoofs sank in something hor- ribly soft—and then there stood before only the bloody figure of Dix Van Dyck. The tearing hands of a hundred men had torn his shirt from his back. He stood naked to the waist, splashed with crimson, his hands red as a butcher where he had taken a wounded man by the throat. He gave her a yell of welcome and with- out touching the pommel, leaped into his saddle and caught his rein from Dolores. “Now!” he cried. ‘‘ Now, now!” There were new guns in the holsters of his saddle; Dolores had seen to that. And with the yelling Indian girl at his side he galloped straight through the crowd, firing to right and left among the last of the panic-stricken fugitives. Men melted away before them; the road stretched suddenly bare and blank; they thundered away into the thick heart of the night. CHAPTER XXXV. THEe COMING OF JACK. "THE white stallion, at a reeling gallop, swung Double Bend. It was pitch-dark now and the horse was too exhausted to pick his down the last long slope toward - 299 footing by any instinct. Twice he stepped on a loose stone and near!y fell. And at last, with hanging head, at a shambling trot, he struck into the main street of Double Bend. : She had expected voices, noise, crowds. It was the time for the dance-hall to be in full blast, but when she passed it she found closed doors and blank darkness. Something had happened; and she knew in her heart that it had something to do with Dix Van Dyck. But there was not a soul on the streets. The lights were out in every house; she could not hear the stirring of a step, not a voice, not a single burst of laughter. And yet this was Double Bend! : It was ghostly. She thought of some breath of pestilence which might have struck across the place. Certainly every- thing was as still as death. And it was then that she caught the glimmer of light from the office of Marshal Phil Glasgow. She had rather have seen it in any other place. She spurred the stallion to a stag- gering gallop, pitilessly. As she drew closer she saw a huddle of horses in front of the office and men passing in, so she swung from the saddle and ran through the door. Inside were a dozen men—all whites, and at a table before them Marshal Phil Glas- gow was reading to them. Every man stood with raised hand. They were taking the oath; a posse was being formed. ~ It froze her heart. She knew the ‘mean- ing well enough. A lawless mob had seized Dix Van Dyck and killed him. Now the marshal was forming a posse to follow the perpetrators of the crime. That was why Double Bend was plunged in darkness. The reading of the oath ended; the men answered as one in a deep-voiced chorus: “T dol” It was then that Phil Glasgow looked up and saw the white face of the girl at the door. “What the hell!” said Glasgow. “ How’d you come here?” ‘ Dix,” she said faintly, “ Dix Van Dyck. They’ve killed Him? “Have they?” growled the marshal. “Not that I know of.” “ Thank God,” she breathed, and could EOPMICLOOOKS (E@)