Sunset Ranch: A Story of a Boy's Adventures in the West — page 265: what you’re looking at

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

Sunset Ranch. 253 An’ now, who in tarnation be you, and who allowed ye to be running’ off with the capten’s gal?” This seemed a poser, but Karl was not in a humor to dally longer. He knew that the suspicions of the giant had been aroused, and that sooner or later it must reach a question of supremacy between them. As minutes were precious to the fugitives, he be- lieved the sooner he grappled the bull by the horns and met the crisis the better. “T’ve got a message for you,” he said, to arouse the fellow’s curiosity. “Oh, you be? Well, out with it, kid, afore I tie yer hands together and tote ye back to camp; what’s the message ?”’ “Drop that gun!” Karl had covered him like a flash. His hand may have trembled a little, but such a thing would not count at close quarters. In the moonlight, his face looked set and white, and there was an air of determination about his whole person that could not but sensibly affect the one who was threatened. The giant may have had only contempt for such a little whipper-snapper chap as Karl appeared in his Goliath eyes, but he entertained a healthy respect for a gun in the hands of a range rider. Consequently, he dared not attempt to make use of the weapon he held, but, realizing that the other meant strictly business, he allowed it to slip from his hands until it landed with a thump on the ground. At the same time, he growled like a hyena at bay, furious to be thus humiliated by a mere strip- ling whom he could easily down with one hand tied behind his back. “Now, turn around—not that way, but headed toward camp. Can you run?” demanded Karl. “Summat, I reckon, kid?” surlily. cComiclooks C©