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. “ { 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’. ““} guess an hour must have pase. 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. “ Weil, 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. rectly. I hadn’t been able to do no thinkin’ with him thar. “Yd 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. “J felt considerable relieved. Thad Taylor of the Circle-Z wa’n’t no bosom friend of mine. ‘Let him look out for his ewn 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, Ud hear them. More than an hour passed; nuthin’ happened. And then I heard horses comin’ on the run. TIT got up and listened. : “Tn about a minute Andres flashed by. He was cryin’ —mad. He was gibberin’ to himself in Basque: ‘T killed him! him!’ He had the kid’s horse on a rope, but the saddle was empty. __ * He’s killed the kid,’ I told myself, and = “So it was said,” he replied. IT got out and stretched myself di- I killed so I thought until the posse dug me out = — told me that Kit Dorr had been murdered, and that they was after your paw. “Save for tellin’ Kincaid, I ain’t said — nuthin’ till now. You can guess what hap- pened, can’t you?—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.” SA supposition—” “ Facts is what I’m tellin’ you,” cae = exclaimed. bullet. Andres had the rifle.” “ Kit was killed by a .30- 40 “ But Timoteo—I remember it was = 1 2S that he had gone to Spain.” Peter smiled weakly. * But he’s never come back. _Timoteo went a dot further than Spain that night.” “ But his body—?” : ‘“‘ Never been found—leastwise not that aa one knows of. 2 smokes for it. 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 bere. . In his eyes this mountain — is a to 4 Yes; 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 te 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 ne she held clutched in her hands, my school- _ = = boy slate. On it she had written a message —I have come back to fulfill every word of — it. I do not doubt that she found Tinoteos nor do IF question but what I know where — to find his See He will serve me well. _ You == = a od the ops tice Te always "tele that = ‘and from this tomb I will arise | . to humble him and his sons,” = = =6 om Eboo ; ¢ 0}