Argosy All-Story Weekly, July 1, 1922 — page 141: what you’re looking at

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

THE GUN-FANNER. frank smile on his face reassured her. ‘“ It is the fair thing, except for—” ‘“‘ Except for what?” ‘Except for yourself. You are not fair to yourself. You had Cal Triggers where you wanted him. If you had killed him you would not have been punished.” “Then do you think I lost my nerve— and was afraid to fire?” ‘No, I don’t think that. I think instead of losing your nerve you showed yourself a very brave man. By letting Cal Trig- gers go you proved yourself a far braver man than if you had killed him. You must have known he would come back some day—and kill you.” “Meakin’s smile broadened and he laughed softly. ‘I am not afraid of him.” “And that is the doubt that entered my mind,” the girl put in quickly. ‘ Your not being afraid of his coming back makes me think you did not really free him. You were making a bid for my admiration.” “Of course I was! I admitted that!” Meakin returned, a new tone hardening his voice. “ Everything I have done has been because of my love for you. I would have killed the gunman on sight—you know that. You saw yourself it was the thing for me to do. Instead I freed him for your sake. I could see that something about this man had taken hold of you—what I do not know. It must be the fascination some kill- ers exert over women who are gentle and lovely. He fascinated you—I could see that. I was not going to shoot him dead at your feet and have you remember a hor- rible sight like that the rest of your life— and connect it with your thoughts of me.” “Then there is something fine I have discovered about you,” the girl said. ‘““T wanted to show you,” Meakin went on enthusiastically, “that I have a great respect for your feelings—and in thaé re- spect, at least, I can make a stronger bid for your hand than this brute gunfighter can.” The girl put up her hand. “ Very well— you have made a strong bid—but before you dismiss Cal Triggers as a brute gun- fighter, I have something to tell you. Cal Triggers has the brute power, yes, and he has shown that power to every one on this range. But he has something else—some- 931 thing which he has revealed to no one else but me. During these nights and days in the desert when Cal Triggers and I have been alone together, I have not had one glimpse of the brute that they say is in him. He has cared for me as if I had been a frail little boy—his brother—famishing for want of water. That is why he came here to fight you men—because he saw I was famishing from our desert ride. Of the many deeds that this ‘ brute’ has done to show that he is the greatest of you men— that one deed was enough to make me be- lieve in him.” Meakin broke out hotly in his answer: “God! Are you going crazy? Do you mean to tell me to my face that you have any feelings for this damned, hell-twisting bandit! He’s bulldozed you, hypnotized you, or what the hell else I don’t know! Like as not you’re the kind of woman who’d kiss a man’s foot because he beat you!” Meakin realized suddenly that he was shouting at the girl in his fury. He had noticed the condition of the herd at the lower end of the cafion, and with the keen knowledge his experience had brought him of cow psychology, he knew that that herd was going to bolt. It was no time to shout, he reminded himself, when a herd, after refusing to bed, has stopped milling. He lowered his voice. ‘‘ Look here, you come with me. We shouldn’t be gagging about love matters here when those steers are ready to rush us and trample us any min- ute. You come along. [71 take you out of this damned gulch. Get onto your horse and come with me!” Nan made no move to go. She looked up at Meakin, and when he took her by the arm she shook herself free. Then she an- swered him in a voice that was at once tense and cold: “ I haven’t told you every- thing,” she said. ‘“ You are a greater man than Cal Triggers—if I understand what you have done. If you freed him here— for my sake—knowing that he could come back after a while and fight you—then you have shown me for the first time that you really are a man.” “Why do you say ‘if’? Isn’t it all clear?” comicloool C©