Argosy All-Story Weekly, June 27, 1925 — page 136: what you’re looking at

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

983 successful in their man hunt, while he had utterly failed in his part. This was no fauit af his, but this fact gave him small solace Adding to his small fire and grudging himself enough food from his dwindling sup- ply to make half a breakfast, he put some of his thoughts into words. “ Betcha them rustlin’ coyotes never even heard of this here pass,” he growled; “ an’ I betcha Lanky an’ th’ kid shore knowed it when they sent me up here to watch it. Here I am, near out of grub an’ smokin’, while they're chasin’ around down south rollin’ cigarettes, stuffin’ themselves with bacon, beans an’ biscuits, an’ having some excitement. I ain’t goin’ to stand for it no longer! not no longer! I’m pullin’ out of here as soon as I can saddle up, an’ get back to Broken Wheel for some ham an’ eggs, an’ a couple of drinks. Watch th’ passes, says th’ kid! Watch hell, says I! I've watched all th’ passes I’m goin’ to watch. Far’s I’m concerned all th’ cattle thieves in th’ world can use this pass for a bed ground. Damn that fire! Why didn’t I get more wood when I was about it?” An hour later Red was in the saddle scorning the lessening rain, and riding as straight as he could for Broken Wheel, his rifle resting across his saddle in case its owner's pious hope was justified. If he were lucky he might blunder on to one or more of the fugitive band, and in his present state of mind he hoped it would be more than one. In this he was doomed to disappoint- ment, for all that day and the next he pushed on without getting sight of any human being, or the fresh tracks made by one. Intermittent rains kept the ground soft and gave it no chance to dry out. At mid forenoon of the third day, as he topped a small rise, he leaned forward in the sad- ‘dle and stared exultantly at the sign on the far slope: the fresh and muddy tracks of two horses. Under favorable circumstances Red could read horse tracks as well as the majority of the plains riders of his day; but the cir- cumstances were not favorable, for the tracks were not clean cut in the mushy earth. Hoping to come to some place, some ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. stretch of sand or earth hard enough to make some resistance to the horses’ hoofs, he patted the rifle and pushed on along the fresh trail. The distances between the prints of the hoofs on the same side of each animal was about three feet and he knew that the riders had gone on at a walk. This pleased him, but he was not pleased by the way they had persistently kept to slushy mud, and thus wittingly or unwittingly had hidden the tell- tale characteristics of the tracks. His dis- pleasure over this, however, faded slowly as the significance of some of their erratic riding became plain, and he reached the conclusion that the riders had deliberately done this to hide their identity. If this were so, it must be that they feared pursuit, which indicated that they were members of the band which he and his friends had been trailing. He grinned, pulled his hat tighter on his head, readjusted a fold of his slicker, and urged his mount into a trot. ‘Go off an’ leave me holdin’ th’ sack, will you?” he asked his absent friends, his voice exultant. ‘‘ Stick me up in that pass, out of th’ way, so you could hog th’ game, huh? I'll show you somethin’ purty soon!” Gone was his sullen depression at this promise of action, and he hummed under his breath as he trotted along the trail, his eyes searching constantly and his gun bal- anced for quick use. Pushing on until afternoon he rode along the side of a steep valley, emerged from it and swiftly checked his horse. A column of smoke was filtering above the trees of a distant woods, and straight toward it lay the tracks he had been following. Turning his horse, he rode back a few rods and then, angling down the slope, struck out on a roundabout course through heavy cover to approach the camp unseen. Out in the open the morning wind and sun had dried the ground except in hollows and washes; but when Red entered the for- est surrounding the sought-for camp fire he found everything wet. Riding as far as he dared, he at last reluctantly cached his horse by picketing it in a small opening in the brush which covered a fire-made clear- ing in the woods. COnniEaoo () SS Co