Adventure Magazine Cover, October 10, 1921 — page 19: what you’re looking at

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

The Silent Captain Next morning Grant Wilcox might have noted a subtle change in the attitude of his men. They were all exuberant drinkers at times, but the private weakness in a boss seemed different. The men were distant and very polite. Tupper was distinctly patron- izing but the quiet stranger said nothing. His eyes were clear and his face sober as he requested “Big Noise” to take a ride. “T want to see the grazing on the range, he remarked. “Oh, yes; shore; I’ll show you everything. You better ride that pinto pony, Mister Wilcox. He’s gentle an’ he don’t buck. Jest git on an’ I’ll show you more about cattle than you ever dreamed of! You foller me an’ you'll go right!” They rode twenty miles before noon, passing occasional herds of cattle and some- times- striking a tiny oasis of green trees standing out of the vast flatness of the range. Once they came to a herd guarded bv very alert men. These punchers rode out from their herds and scrutinized the new- comers closely, then went about their business. “Them’s some o’ Jake Curry’s cows,” explained Tupper. “Where is his ranch?” : “Ranch? Where his cows graze. don’t need no ranch. He’s enterprisin’. “How?” “Well, when a feller starts out with two hosses an’ a six shooter an’ collects fifteen 99 Curry 9 99 hundred head in about a year, you might - say he’s a good business man!”’ The eyes of Wilcox twinkled and he smoked without comment for another mile. Then: ‘“‘Why don’t they stop that sort of thing?” Tupper looked down upon his companion pityingly. Tupper rode a very large horse and towered above the other. “Huh! The graveyards is full o’ them that’s tried to stop it! I reckon you don’t savvy things around here, Mister Wilcox. This here’s a big country. She’s loose. She’s wild. She ain’t easy to hold down. It’d take you a long time to learn her ways. You never mind worryin’ about these sort 0’ things, Mister Wilcox. The boys’ll take care o’ them for you. You better jest set back an’ take things easy.” WILCOX said nothing. The sonor- gus voice of Tupper ran along in- sistently. “Yessir; if I owned this shebang like you do I’d set on my front porch with plenty “teamster. 9 of seegars an’ a bottle o’ good whisky an’ let things slide. ’T’ain’t no use to mix into the rumpuses on the range. It don’t git you nowhere. You might as well take things easy!” As the clanging voice of Tupper rambled along Wilcox gathered that only four of his men were holdovers from his uncle. These were Tupper, Shay, the cook and the As candidates for the position of the late foreman they were impossible. ‘“‘Where did the other men come from?” asked Wilcox. “Most any place. They drifted in.” ‘What are their records?” F “Records? Say, Mister Wilcox, if you git to worryin’ about the records o’ them that’s drifted into this country you'll git gray ‘“‘“Answer me!” The snap in the voice made Tupper jump. He stared in surprize. “Oh, well, if you’ve gotta know it, I reckon most all the men on your ranch belong to the rustlers!”’ For a mile further the lord of the Wilcox herds looked thoughtfully ahead from under the brim of his old black hat; then he turned his head slowly to Tupper. ‘Just why do they all pick on my ranch?” “T dunno. Nobody knows. Guess meb- be she’s easy to pick on.” There was another long silence which lasted until they approached a great herd of cattle grazing along both banks of a tiny stream bordered by cottonwood trees. It was the main Wilcox herd, a slow- moving mass of horned beasts crowding acres of pasture-land toward the horizon with their brown, red, white and black bodies. The tossing horns, the noise, the reek, the dust and the hoof-pounding of this vast horde of powerful bodies created an atmosphere that Grant Wilcox had never dreamed of. He gained a.tiny inkling of the size of his new business and would have liked to study his herd longer except for the insistent talk, talk, talk of Tupper, whose amiable bellow never seemed to cease. Tupper conducted the owner around like a head waiter. He practically tucked Grant Wilcox under his wing and hauled | the man about. He rode into the grazing herd and pointed | out breeds and brands. He roped a bawling | calf and showed how to throw it. He led Conniiclooolxs.conm