Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 18, 1925 — page 123: what you’re looking at

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

> — a ae . < - ~ - a — * o oa <a ‘ _ ; “a . <7 pa - ad wT a o~ ~ a dad a ee ‘ « a — ae — — eg Rg i ee > - ‘ Se ee se Se ee Se = fae — BO me peg a ee me RT ng 5 Oa a tae ge = = IN THE EVENT OF DEATH. ened, she forgot everything save that she was talking face to face with the man she loved. The crowd in the court room knew in that moment that Cosgrove had fired in self-defense. No further evidence was necessary. But no voice interrupted now the procedure of the trial; for it held them bound with a spell they could not break. Here before their eyes was young love yearning toward its mate, and in the strange words they spoke those two courted each the other as certainly as ever Romeo and Juliet courted in medieval Verona. Seem- ing lost in their love to all the world, they spoke mechanically the words of their defense. “ He held the gun in his hand? Cover- ing me? And you saw it—clearly?” he was saying; but his eyes burned with an emo- tion which words had never yet been able to express. “As clearly as I see you now! And I shall never forget that gun! I saw him cover you with it, and I saw him fire!” “She lies! It’s a frame-up!” The harsh voice of Farley, strained al- most to cracking, broke the spell which held all the room in thrall. Cosgrove wheeled upon him like a whirlwind. “ Far- ley,” he cried, “ you have challenged the good faith of every witness who has so far said a word in my defense. By Heaven, it looks as though it is you who stands on trial, instead of me!” The crowd arose to that, arose with a rustle, a murmur which was applause. But Cosgrove silenced it with a peculiar appeal, a glance toward them which, without a word or gesture, stilled the disturbance. “ But here’s one witness whom you can- not call a liar! I tell you that you’ve used that expression for the last time in this trial! Hereafter you will keep your blas- phemous mouth shut, or face the conse- quences.” But Farley, it seemed, was mad. He strode forward to the opposite side of the table against which Cosgrove stood and, leaning far forward across it, he glared with insensate fury into the young man’s face. 8A - oe - a. -<e Pa ge le 273 “ “T say it—and I say it again! You can’t stop me! There ain’t no power on earth can stop me! She lies! Anybody lies who says that Jake Klien had a gun! Get back!” He screamed the last words out with a lurid curse, for Cosgrove vaulted the table as clear as a bird and in an instant was beside him. As Cosgrove landed lightly at his side Farley, with a scream of rage, stepped backward a short pace and his hand flew to his hip. There was a vast clamor in the court room, shrieks and cursing. Several. men leaped forward, and Hazel, in the witness stand, stood suddenly erect. But Gaines, the sheriff, and a dozen others beat Far- ley to the draw with the weight of their bodies flung forward upon him. They wrested the gun from his hand, and Cosgrove, seizing it, flung it on the table, ‘““And there,” he cried, as he too drew a gun, flinging it beside the other, “ is mine! Let there be no mistake about the equality of arms!” Amid all the uproar his honor had man- fully slammed his book again and again upon the desk, “This trial ain’t runnin’ right!” he roared as the clamor died away. “ We got to have order here, or we'll shut up this trial! Now, Chris, you watch them guns, and if any other man in this court room throws a gun again I'll put him in the cooler, Go on with yore defense, young feller!” Farley, pulled down to his chair, and conscious that the men on either side of him constituted a guard against further violence, fumed in an agony of baffled rage. ““ Don’t listen!” he bellowed. ‘ Don’t hear them! They lie! They lie!” Ignoring him, Cosgrove proceeded with his questions, and Hazel, flushed with the agitation of that moment, answered him in a voice that was quavering and low. “Please repeat that question,” asked Slade, for the outburst of Farley had — drowned her low voice out. “* Shut up, Wert!’ commanded his honor. “T said, ‘ Could you identify that gun if you saw it again?’” repeated Cosgrove. And he saw her gaze pass him as it rest- co S) miEcboo (C