Adventure, January 20, 1922 — page 158: what you’re looking at

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

156 A tall, rangy man got to his feet and held out his hand to Blaze. ‘‘Pardner, I’d admire to shake your hand.” Blaze smiled and shook.hands with him. Not to be outdone, Frenchy stepped for- ward and offered his hand. “Ba gosh, you shake hands wit’ good man, when you shake wit’ Blaze Carlin and Frenchy Ditteau.”’ That seemed to break the tension. “You are wondering why I asked you to come here, aren’t you?” asked the blue- eyed man. “Feller kinda like to know,” admitted Blaze. “You do the talkin’, will yuh, judge?” asked one of the men. ‘You sabe the kinda stuff to say.” ; The blue-eyed man nodded and turned to Blaze. “tT am Judge Whalen. These men—” indicating the semicircle of men—*“‘these men and myself compose the vigilance committee.” “Ba gosh, you be ashamed!” blurted Frenchy. ‘You hang old crippled man.” Judge Whalen glanced at the men and back at Frenchy. “What was that, Ditteau?”’ “We buried a victim of the vigilantes yesterday,” replied Blaze. “It was an old man.” “Another one,” said the judge sadly. “Where was this done, Carlin?” Blaze tried to describe the place, but was interrupted by one of the men, who got to his feet. “Tl know the place, judge, but I don’t know the man. It’s west of Mora’s ranch. This man has only been there a short time. I talked with him, but he had little to say. He acted kinda queer.” “Their idea seems to be to kill, regardless of who their victim may be,” observed the judge, but turned quickly to Blaze. “I forgot that you did not know. We are the original vigilance committee, but we have not beer active for over two months. “Law and order seemed to have been established by us, after all other means had | failed. Our sheriff was unable to handle the situation; so we gave him our assistance and then disbanded. “Since then another organization has appeared, operating under our ndme; an organization which has undone all our good work, put us to shame, and are now terror- Adventize mitted Blaze. ~ izing the country. Murder after murder has been done in the name of the vigilantes. Our sheriff has disappeared, perhaps killed, and his office door bears a warning from the vigilantes. <3 “No man knows where they will strike next. The cripple you found hanging to the tree is only one of the many they have — murdered. No doubt you are aware that the law and order crowd are greatly in the minority. We were a power for a while, but that power is gone, it seems. Our investi- gations are useless as no man seems to want to tell what he knows for fear of vengeance. “The bank has closed its door after a raid by the same gang, in which the cashier, one of our organization, was killed. Stores have been looted. Things have come to such a state that a decent woman does not dare be seen on the street of Wolf Butte. You have seen the reckless riding, shooting, profanity, the flaunting of morals. Each day it grows worse.” “She sure is a stem-winder, judge,” ad- “What do yuh want us to do?” “You knocked Black Mora down today. It is the first time that any man has raised his hand against Mora and lived. He is the swiftest, most deadly pistol-shot in the country; a man without a shred of con- science. The men who work for him are the pick of the outlaws. There is no ques- tion but what he has spies everywhere. Five of our organization have been killed. “You will ask why we do not remove Black Mora? He has a larger organization than we have. He knows our every move. Practically every man in our crowd is married. I am not ashamed to admit to you that we are afraid. Honest men can not be on their guard every moment. No man will accept the sheriff’s office. It is suicide. We want a ‘man who is unafraid and who is willing to put his soul, his life into it.” Judge Whalen’s voice was softly pitched; impassioned as if pleading before a jury of twelve instead of telling plain facts to two men, The shadows of the cattlemen bulked grotesquely on the wall, as they humped forward, listening intently to the one man among them who could tell calmly of their wrongs. Blaze got to his feet and adjusted his belt. The flickering light accentuated the bronze high-lights of his Indian-like features and . EOmicloooks (E@