Adventure Magazine Cover — page 27: what you’re looking at

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

A Pot of Gold many horses being roped and saddled. Then came a clatter of pounding hoofs. A dozen armed horsemen swirled into the main street and thundered past. Belated riders followed them. They turned into the eastward trail, leaving a cloud of dust. BEWILDERED, Tom sought in- > < formation from an old Mexican =” man-about-town. The Mexican was hard to start, but finally he talked. “There may be funerals, no?”’ “Whose funerals?”’ “Only the saints can tell.” ‘“‘There’s not a saint in the whole crowd, or anywhere near. Who's Jed Hill out after?” “His own men. Who else?”’ “Why?” “To rescue them.” “Who from?” “Did you not hear Jed Hill call? Shonny Feenley has caught one-two-three Jed Hill men. Atrap. Maybe kill them.” “A trap? How did they get into that?” “Yesterday, seftor, somebody filed a claim for gold in the Jaguar Hills, no? The news came to Jed Hill very quick like it always does. ‘‘Three men started from here to look at the claim for Jed Hill. They did not know Feenley men were there. They ride into what-you-call ambush, no?”’ Tom took a long breath. ‘Well, of all the enterprise I ever saw this country beats the deck. The minute a man files on a claim these pirates send a delega- tion to look it over.”’ | Le ° Tom consumed the rest of the day in > irritable reflections. _ Next afternoon a very small portion of the cavalcade returned, dusty and travel-worn. One man wore a sling to hold his limp left arm. They all looked tired except Jed Hill, who rode in the lead like Cesar returning from the wars. After dismounting, he walked into the crowded dance-ha]ll. Tom followed. Hill happened to spy him. “Much obliged,”’ bawled Hill, waving a hand. ‘If it hadn’t been for you them three friends of mine would have been dead. We found ’em standin’ off a half a dozen on a hill.” ‘“‘Where’s the rest of your crowd?” questioned Tom. “Them? Oh, one of ’em was shot up and 2 17 -the rest went on into the Jaguar Hills.” “What for?”’ “They’re goin’ to take claims alongside yours.” IV T°? FIND a promoter at the right time is a stately task. To interest a well- financed promoter who will make a propo- sition successful from the start is a mira- cle. Old Pete did it; but his methods made it a super-miracle. When Pete landed at the foot of Market Street, clad in his wrinkly store clothes, creaky boots, green necktie and sun-blis- tered complexion, every bunco man in the district gave a glad cry and got busy; but Pete fought them off. Alone and with no one to guide him, he waded forth into the pitfalls of a great city. Banking the bulk of his money religiously, Pete kept a hundred dollars to experiment with the city’s pleasures. He was still ex- perimenting at midnight. There were plenty of opportunities in the old San Francisco. The gay, colorful, tragic city was alive with them. The siren voice, the crimsoned lip and the rattle of chips were as frank as the booming of breakers on faraway Seal Rock. In the heart of the business section at Fourth and Market, roulette'and faro held forth in a royally named “café” whose op- erations were so open that the outside citizenry could watch through plate-glass windows. Down the street, between other business houses, ‘‘Little Egypt’? and kindred souls disported in a gaudy amusement place for the inelegant. Just north of the city’s main cable-slot was the tenderloin with its beer-halls, tough dives, theaters and world-famous_restau- rants. South of the “‘slot’”’ were the homes of lowly but bellicose citizens thoroughly trained to the manly art and always willing to prove it. To the northward was the Barbary Coast, where lights burned brilliantly amid dance- halls, saloons, brothels and tawdry theaters where throbbing music advertised brazen shows. This district was one huge leaven of drunken sailors, gang-fights, vendettas, hold-ups, ‘graft, knockout-drops, shootings and general confusion. A policeman’s ca- reer in this district was generally short. But that was only part of this wonderful Comichoook C©