Argosy All-Story Weekly, November 13, 1920 — page 45: what you’re looking at

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

PRAIRIE FLOWERS. a23 demanded the bartender. ‘“ What with git- tin’ shot in the arm, an’ gittin’ tried to be held up fer four dollars of Sam’s debts, an’ gittin’ laid out cold with a spittoon, an’ gittin’ my glasses an’ bottles all busted, an’ gittin’ my place all shot up, an’ my merrow shot to hell, an’ my kegs all shot holes m, without all you’s hornin’ in an’ drinkin’ up what little I got left? As the feller says, where do | git off at?” ‘““ S’pose you dry up an’ let me talk,” re- torted the marshal. ‘“ They ain’t no one payin’ you nawthin’ to maintain law an’ order in this town.” “Tf they was, Ill be damned if I wouldn’t maintain it, ’stead of millin’ around drinkin’ up other folks’ whisky.” ‘““Looka here, Pete Barras, this makes twice now you’ve ondertook to tell me my business. You shet yer yap, ’er you don’t draw no damages when we corral that out- law in yonder. I ain’t so sure you didn’t start the rookus nohow. Besides, the boys needs a little drink, an’ we'll charge this here bottle up along with the rest of the damages, an’ make him pay ’em.” “You ain’t caught him yet. Where do I git off at if you don’t ketch him?” Ike Stork, grinning huge enjoyment over the altercation, managed to motion Alice to his side. ‘ Better git over to yer cayuse,” he cau- tioned. | “‘ He’s pretty near had time to make it into. the alley, an’ when he comes he'll come a shootin’. Guess I'll jest keep the squabble a goin’—they all seem right interested.”’ He indicated the crowd that had edged close about the two principals. And Alice smiled as she mounted her horse to hear the renewed vigor with which re- tort met accusation after the redoubtable Mr. Stork had contributed his observations from the side lines. The girl’s eyes were fixed upon the black mouth of the alley, and with each passing minute she found it harder and harder to restrain her impatience. Would he never come? What if the window had been guarded unknown to Stork? What if Stork’s horse had broken loose or had been moved by some one passing through the alley? What if— A blood-curdling yell split the darkness. And with a thunder of hoofs an indistin- guishable shape whirled out of the alley. A crash of shots drowned the thunder of hoofs as from the plunging shape darted thin red streaks of flame. Straight into the crowd it plunged. For a fleeting instant the girl caught a | glimpse of bodies in confused motion, as the men surged back from its impact. Above the sounds of the guns shrill cries of fear and the hoarse angry curses split the air. | As Ike Stork had predicted, the Texan had “‘ come a shootin’.” . CHAPTER VIII. THE ESCAPE, LICE had pressed forward until her horse stood at the very edge of the seething mélée. Swiftly, objects took definite shape in the starlight. Men rushed past her, cursing. The marshal Jay upon the ground, shrieking contradictory orders, while over him stood the outraged Bar- ras, reviling him for permitting his man to escape. Other men were shooting, and between the sounds of the shots the voice of Ike Stork could be heard loudly bewailing the loss of his horse. Hoof-beats sounded be- hind her, and, glancing backward, Alice could see men mounting the half-dozen horses that stood saddled before the store and the livery barn. As a man, already in the saddle, urged the others to hurry, he raised his gun and fired in the direction the Texan had taken. : “They’ll kill him!” thought the girl. ‘“‘ No matter how fast his horse is, those bul- lets fly faster!” Another shot followed the first, and, act- jing on the impulse of the moment, with the one thought to save the Texan from harm, she struck her horse down the flank and shot out into the trail behind the fleeing cow-puncher. ‘They won’t dare to shoot now,” she sobbed as she urged her horse to his best, while in her ears rang a confusion of cries that she knew were directed at her. Lean-. ing far forward, she shouted encouragement cEomichooks (E(0)