Arizona Round-Up — page 24: what you’re looking at

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

22 WILLIAM HOPSON “Mind if we set down?” Evergreen inquired, in an attempt to be friendly. } “Yes,” Tex replied, spearing at a boiled potato. “But it’s a pub- lic place. You've got as much right here as I have.” “Burnett here,” Evergreen explained to Bud Bailey without bothering to introduce the two men, “was in Pap’s cabin a little while ago when I come in. I thought he was a claim jumper and -got a little riled until the old man came in and straightened it out.” * Bailey grunted and ordered a cup of coffee. It was obvious that, for some strange reason, he didn’t like the newcomer to Mule Gulch. Tex suspected that they had been talking about him over at the bar before coming to the counter. Evergreen turned back to Burnett, still busy with his supper. “Shucks, it was all right, long as you're a friend of Pap’s,’ he said. “Where'd you know him?” “I didn’t, son. Just met him and he invited me to share the cabin, seeing as how the hotel is all filled up.” “He said hed seen you down south somewhere. Texas, I think.” Tex didn’t answer. He was remembering that Jed Haraway had told him at the wagon as they moved along the road that he'd never been in Texas. . Evergreen went on, in a lower, confidential tone of voice. “It aint known too much around the gulch here, Tex, but Lil is also his daughter by a first wife. I'm his stepson, which makes us stepsister and stepbrother. But few knows that and you ain't sup- posed to say anything about it.” Tex had finished. He shoved back his plates and the wooden platter and reached into a pocket. “How much?” he asked the waiter. “Dollar fifty.’ “Here, here,” protested Evergreen, grabbing for his own pocket. “I’m paying for his supper. He’s my friend.” Then a left hand with a grip of iron closed on his wrist and he found himself looking into a pair of cobalt eyes that were not hostile but certainly were not friendly. “Thanks, son, but nobody pays anything for me, and the word comicbooks.com