Argosy, Vol. 120, No. 1 — page 108: what you’re looking at

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

98° | THE ARGOSY. of her until they reached the shadows of Willets’s buildings. She did lose them there, though, and when she rode down the dimly lighted street she could see no sign of them. There was no one about, and she rode back and forth on the street, searching for Hamlin’s horse, which would give her a clue to Hamlin’s whereabout. And at last, peer- ing into a vacant space between two build- ings, she saw Hamlin’s horse and another, hitched to a rail near an outside stairway. She got off the pony, threw the reins over its head, and ran around to the froft of the building, into the light of some oil lamps that stabbed the semigloom of_the Street. The building was occupied by the Wolf saloon. She knew that, and it was that knowledge which caused her to hesitate as she stood in front of it. But her father was in there, she was certain. She had recog- nized the horse that had been hitched close to her father’s as one that Singleton had ridden to the Hamlin cabin on several of his visits, and the cold determination that had seized her at last gave her the courage to swing the front door of the saloon open. She hesitated on the threshold, white, shaking with dread, almost afraid, now that she had come this far, to face the terrible men she knew she would find inside. But while she hesitated, she heard her father’s voice—a sound that drove her to instant action, for it was high-pitched, and carried a note of anger. She went inside then, no longer thinking — of herself; her heart athrob with concern, courage of a high order sustaining her. She pushed the outside door open, burst through the double-swing door that screened the barroom from the street, and stood in the front of the room blinking at the lights. | The room was full of men—she did not know how many. They made a great blur in front of her; and it seemed to her that all their faces were turned to her. She had a flashing view of a multitude of inquiring eyes; she noted the thick haze that hung over the room; her nostrils were assailed by mingled odors that were nauseating. The flashing glance showed her the long bar, a cluster of lights overhead, card tables, a low ceiling, and a stairway leading from the barroom to a platform. | All sound except her father’s voice had ceased with her entrance. She saw him standing near the center of the room. He was standing alone, in sinister isola- tion. Singleton was facing him, about a dozen feet distant. A few feet from Single- ton stood another man—dark of face, with cruel lips, and eyes that Held a wanton light. A little farther away—close to the bar—stood Gary Warden. Her father seemed to be the only man in the room who had not seen her. A ter- rible rage had gripped him; he seemed to have undergone a strange transformation since she had seen him last; that manhood which she had thought had departed from ~him appeared to have returned. For he made a striking figure as he stood there. He was rigid, alert; he seemed to dominate every man that faced him, that stood within sound of his voice. He had been talking when Ruth entered; he was still talking, and apparently unaware of her presence. His voice was pitched high, it carried a note of defiance; it was vibrant with pas- sion. Fascinated by the change in him, Ruth stood motionless, listening. ‘“‘So that’s what you brought me here for?” he said, his voice shaking with rage. He was looking at Singleton and the man who stood near the latter. ‘“ You brought me here because you wanted to be sure there’d be enough of you to down me. Well, damn you—get goin’!” His voice rose to a screech of awful rage; and while it still resounded through the room he dropped his right hand and dragged ' at the pistol at his hip. It was done so swiftly that Ruth could make no movement to interfere. And yet as swiftly as her father’s hand had dropped to the holster at his side, the dark-faced man who stood near Singleton anticipated the movement. | ’ His right hand moved like a streak of light. It went down, then up again with the same motion. The air rocked with a crashing report, mingled with Ruth’s scream of terror. And Hamlirfs gun loosened in comicoookks (-) CO@