Argosy All-Story Weekly, October 6, 1923 — page 103: what you’re looking at

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

THE AVENGING SHEPHERD, ‘“‘ Andres’s kid brother, Timoteo. The kid went on directly, but he left Andres in the pocket. Andres was to follow him on foot when he thought the time was right. Well, I was doin’ some pretty fast thinkin’. Here was hell to pay, for fair, and me not knowin’ what to do. “1 wa’n’t afraid of Timoteo. I reckoned your daddy could manage him if this thing that was brewin’ was aimed at your folks. Andres had me trapped; and so we stayed thar—me under the ledge and him backed against his horse—waitin’ and waitin’. “T guess an hour must have passed. God, it was awful. I wanted to yell and get out where they was air; I was stranglin’—Andres thar all that time, so close, and not knowin’ that I was watchin’ him. “Well, he gave a yell all of a sudden and jumpin’ into his saddle he fanned it out of thar, leadin’ the kid’s horse behind him. I got out and stretched myself di- rectly. I hadn’t been able to do no thinkin’ with him thar. ‘“T’d heard them tossing a word back and forth that I hadn’t savvied. It came to me, then—nippers! That meant wire! I began to see a thing or two right off. Those boys were out to cut the Circle-Z fence. Wa’n’t no other wire for ’em to cut. “TI felt considerable relieved. Thad Taylor of the Circle-Z wa’n’t no bosom friend of mine. ‘Let him look out for his own wire,’ I said to myself and I crawled back into my nest, thinkin’ that those boys had a good night for what they was about, whether they got away with it or not. “ But I wa’n’t any sleepier then than I am right now, which I ain’t at all. I knew if they came back, I’d hear them. More than an hour passed; nuthin’ happened. And then I heard horses comin’ on the run. I got up and listened. “In about a minute Andres flashed by. He was cryin’—mad. He was gibberin’ to himself in Basque: ‘TI killed him! I killed him!’ He had the kid’s horse on a rope, but the saddle was empty. ““« He’s killed the kid,’ I told myself, and 885 so I thought until the posse dug me out and told me that Kit Dorr had been murdered, and that they was after your paw. 3 “Save for tellin’ Kincaid, I ain’t said nuthin’ ’till now. You can guess what hap- pened, can’t youP—two men was killed that night.” “ Dorr and’ Timoteo—”’ ‘“Ain’t a doubt of it. The boy went down to cut the wire. Kit got him. Andres came along later, stampedin’ your sheep. The kid must have crawled away and tipped him off, and Andres nailed Kit.” ‘* A supposition—”’ “Facts is what I’m tellin’ you,” Peter exclaimed. ‘“ Kit was killed by a .30-30 bullet. Andres had the rifle.” ** But Timoteo—I remember it was said that he had gone to Spain.” Peter smiled weakly. ** So it was said,” he replied. ‘ But he’s never come back. Timoteo went a lot further than Spain that night.” “But his body—?” “Never been found—leastwise not that any one knows of. I looked for it. You know, Joseph,” and Peter fastened his eyes on the boy’s face, ‘‘ I’ve always felt that your mother found it—that somewhere on this mountain little Timoteo lies buried. He was Angel’s baby. I tell you he looked for him. You know how range is now—he needs more—but he’s never run a head of stock up here. In his eyes this mountain is a tomb.” “Yes; and from this tomb I will arise to humble him and his sons.” He got to his feet and stood over the old man. Unconsciously he raised his right hand. “When you leave here, make no mystery of me. Let them know I am Joseph. You can serve me best that way. I have come back to avenge my mother; to see justice done my father—and it will be done unto both of them. “When I found my mother cold in death she held clutched in her hands, my school- boy slate. On it she had written a message —J have come back to fulfill every word of it. I do not doubt that she found Timoteo, nor do I question but what I know where to find his body, He will serve me well. COMmiicloooe S ©