Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 18, 1925 — page 128: what you’re looking at

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

278 surprise at the sight of Farley, quickly com- posed himself. “Ts Lederer here?” he asked briskly. But the man still cringed backward, glar- ing at him. “What d’ya want?” he cried. d’ya want here?”’ Cosgrove frowned thoughtfully. “T came to see Lederer,’’ he said. “ He ain’t here!” Farley suddenly burst out into a bitter stream of curses. “ Ain’t you done enough?” he screamed. “ Ain’t it enough that you lied us into the standin’ of hunted animals?” He pounced forward as an infuriated ani- mal might, grasping Cosgrove by the breast of his coat, glaring up at him hatefully. “ Get out o’ this house! Out! Get away before [ kill you with my hands!” he raved, and his hold being broken from Cosgrove’s coat he tried to grasp the young man’s throat, but Cosgrove with a sharp blow sent him reeling across the room. “ T’ve come to take you in with me!” he said. ‘‘ You and Lederer! Good God, you fool! Do you know where your blackguard ways have brought you? The mob’s raving for your blood. Raving to hang you as you tried to inflame them to hang me! They’re out for your blood, Farley, and a dozen rifles are holding them in the court room to give me the chance to take you!”’ Farley’s hands dropped at his sides, and his jaw drooped dismally. “The mob?” he faltered. ‘‘ Take me?” Cosgrove whipped out the warrant which he held. “ Yes, take you!” he cried. ‘“ Your only chance is to give yourself up to the law. I’ve got a warrant here for you, and Slade and Webb are with me. If you and Lederer give yourselves up, I'll guarantee they'll never take you from our hands!” Farley shrank away from him. ‘Give up?” he cried. “ By God, Cos- grove, you're playin’ yore tricks again! Be- fore I give myself up to you-—”’ As he spoke his frantic glance lit upon a chair, roughly made from heavy timbers, beside the door. He plunged for it. “ They’ll never have me!” shrieked Far- ley as he whirled the ponderous weapon ih his hands. ‘‘ Nor you!” Cosgrove closed What AKGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. with him, seeking to grasp the chair before it fell. As he did so the door burst open. Farley dropped the chair with a rasping cry, and leaped backward. He thought this was the mob. But it was Slade and Webb. They seized Farley, holding him, and Cosgrove, some- what disheveled, but unshaken, voiced the need for haste. “Tf you'll give us a chance, you fool!” he cried, “ we’ll save your miserable life! That mob may be on us at any minute now! Your only hope lies in arrest.” “By what right?” raved Farley. what right do you arrest me?”’ “It doesn’t matter!” snapped Cosgrove. ““ Where’s Lederer?” Farley stared at him for a moment in- credulously, then a gleam of the old time cunning crept into his bleared eyes. “T don’t know!” he growled. Cosgrove jumped forward, grasping him by the slack of the coat. ““ Where’s Lederer?” he cried. where he is!” Farley grinned evilly. “T tell yer I don’t know!” he repeated. Above the howl of the gale outside they heard the roar of the car as Gaines brought it up the cut. ce By “Tell me “ Quick!” snapped Cosgrove. ‘“ We’ve got to round him up, too!” But Farley was obstinate. In the dull chaos of his mind he saw only that Led- erer’s absence foiled Cosgrove and baffled - him. That was enough. He was incapable of analyzing the situation more finely than that. In Lederer’s absence, Cosgrove was set back. It was a pitiful obstruction Far- ley thus placed in his way, but he desperate- ly persisted in it. ‘“T tell you I don’t know!” he screamed. “You fool!” Cosgrove cried. ‘“ Listen to me! ‘Try to clear your drink sodden brain and hear me! Your life depends on it! Your life! Do you hear? “That mob you brought to hang me is after you and Lederer! You brought them here and whipped them into a rage of vio- lence! That mob has turned against you! It’s out for your blood now! Can you hear that? Can you understand that?” “Let go!” howled Farley, and cursed Gomichbooks (E©)