Argosy All-Story Weekly, April 18, 1925 — page 140: what you’re looking at

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

290 But they got together again. Came back an’ called our bluff!” “Called your bluff?” demanded Cos- grove. “Shore!” It was the sheriff spoke now, and he spoke firmly. ‘ Our bluff. That’s what it was. You don’t expect we’d have shot down any man to protect such a skunk as Farley, do yer?” “Then they’ve got him?” “T don’t know. He wasn’t in the jail!” At that point Slade, who had heard Cos- grove’s voice from within came out of the building. ‘“We doubted we could hold the jail,” he explained. “ So we took him to Neal’s house down the street.” | “Then he’s safe?” “T don’t know. Like a damn fool he got away. God only knows where he is now, I’ve got men out looking for him.” Cosgrove received this news in silence, thinking hard. “Take me to that house!” he demanded. Gaines, Slade and the girl accompany- ing him, strode afoot to the scene of Far- ley’s agony. He examined the room where the wretched man had lost his mind. There were the mute evidences of the tragedy which had passed there in the night. A cupboard broken open; an empty bottle on the floor; the shattered window; the littered desk; the torn, disheveled couch; a broken chair. All these Cosgrove saw, and he pinned his attention to the desk. “ What’s this?” he cried sharply, as he reviewed the scribbled sheets. “Scribble!” said Slade gravely. “ I can’t make it out.” But Cosgrove could make it out and he did so. He made it out and read it ina firm voice and aloud. ““< Tn the event of death.’ That’s crossed out. Then again: ‘In the event of death.’ It’s crossed out again. Then he starts: “¢T Wert Farley, being of sound mind and in possession of all my faculfies, do solemnly and sincerely curse, damn, and if there is any God, desire Him to torment and make suffer in this world and in the next, Jacob Klien, Cliff Lederer, Bradley Cosgrove, and any or all men who have had a part in drawing up and executing that ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. document which included the damnable words, In the event of death, They lie. “<Tt’s life that I’m dealing with now. Life. I’m going to live. To live and damn them. All of them. So, in the event of life, I hereby will and bequeath to my only heir and relation on this earth, and the only hu- man being who has ever shown pity or mercy toward the oppressed, all my proper- ties, all my share in the Bar Nothing ranch. All my goods and chattels. Be- cause I have broken the window. I have broken the window ieee Cosgrove paused frowning. “It’s diffi- cult to make out what he means. He says: ““*T am going to cheat them yet. They can’t stop me if I get out onto the prairie, and they won’t. I’ve broken the window and the words don’t mean anything now. In the event of death. I hear it; but it doesn’t mean anything because I’m going to live. “* And all the time I live I want my for- tune should go as I’ve said. In the event of life. That’s how a will should be made. And this is my will. My will and testament. gre I’m going to cheat them now!’ ” “But the man’s crazy!” cried Gaines. “That ain’t worth the payer it’s written on! He’s mad!” Cosgrove still frowned. “It appears that we’ve been made the witnesses to a will,” he said. ‘I think this document is worth saving.”’ And a man rode up with his horse foam- ing and his boots covered with white dust. “Ts Slade here?” he called in at the win- dow. ‘“ They got him! He ran into them while they scoured the country for him. They got him an’ strung him up. Wert Farley’s dead on a tree in the river bot- tom!” And Cosgrove spoke with a voice that had in it an awful seriousness. It was as though the supernatural had found a voice. It was as though fate spoke in the person of that lean youth who bent heavily upon the desk and set his bruised face in a grim mask of ironic pity. “It may not be worth the paper it’s written on,” said Cosgrove’s hollow voice. “ But it’s true. The terms of this will were drawn up by Wert Farley when he started COLIC OOO KS (E©)