Adventure Magazine Cover — page 30: what you’re looking at

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

fa “Like to talk to yuh, Sarg,” said the miner. ‘Can we come inside?” ‘“Sure—come on in,” nodded Sarg, and the three men filed past him. Two of them sat down, but the spokesman stood near the table. He was a middle- aged man, his beard and hair slightly gray. The other two were younger, but their clothes and general appearance proclaimed them to be placer miners. “My name’s John McClung,” stated the spokesman, “McClung of the Solomon.” He pointed to the other two. ‘This is Byler, of the Ophir, and Dick Franklyn, of the Keystone.” “Glad t’ meetcha,” nodded Skeeter. ‘Gents, this is Judge Tareyton, my pardner. Whatcha got on your mind?” McClung hesitated, as if a trifle afraid to start the conversation. He cleared his throat softly. “Sarg, you killed Jeff Billings yester- day.”’ Skeeter’s eyes flashed from face to face, but there was nothing to show that these men were more than mildly interested in the fact that he had killed Billings. “Uh-huh,”’ nodded Skeeter. ‘An’ then what?” “Billings was a gun-fighter,” stated Mc- Clung. “He had a bad rep. We found out today that Billings was the leader of the gang that robbed my place and took two hundred ounces of gold.” “Two men was killed,” said Byler. ““Two men that we didn’t know. They has been buried.” “Two hundred ounces of gold ain’t goin’ to break me,’’ continued McClung, ‘‘but it shows that we’ve got to protect our- selves. Billings wasn’t alone in this here robbery. We just heard that Rance Williams was killed at Poplar Springs last night and his whole outfit wiped out—all except a preacher and his girl. This preacher told Jerry.” “Jerry was over to see Mrs. Porter,” said Franklyn meaningly. ‘‘He has dirty shirts every day in the week and two on Sunday.” “T found ’em,’’ nodded Skeeter. “They said yuh did,” agreed Byler. ‘“‘That’s one of the reasons we come to see yuh. McClung was lookin’ for yuh this mornin’, After we found out that yuh brought the preacher and the girl in, we came again.” Adventure “Just why did yuh want to see me?” asked Skeeter. “Cause you’ve got nerve,” stated Mc- Clung quickly. ‘Sunbeam needs a man with nerve right now.” He looked at the judge and back of Skeeter. ‘Your pardner is a lawyer, and we kinda reckoned that a lawyer won’t hurt us none, bein’ as we wants this kinda done right. We’re formin’ a vigilance committee and we need a leader. You are the man we need.” Skeeter turned his head slightly and looked at the judge, who was staring at the floor, a half-smile on his flabby face. “Tug Leeds said you was the right man to get,’ said Byler. Skeeter’s mouth sagged for a moment at this statement, but he turned slowly to Byler, a quizzical smile on his lips. “Tug Leeds said that?” “Today,” nodded McClung. ‘Kinda funny, at that. We talked about you last night. Tug has bought half-interest in the Keystone—bought it this mornin’, and he comes to Dick and opines that the best thing to do is to get up a vigilance committee to stamp out the outlaws. He said that you was the one man in Sunbeam to be the leader.”’ “Anybody speak about me before he did?” asked Skeeter. “TI did,” replied Franklyn. ‘Tug offered me a big price for half of my claim, and after the deal was all closed, he suggested this committee. I told him we had talked it over, and kinda figured on gettin’ you for a leader. He said he thought it was a good . scheme, but he said he’d take charge if we couldn't get hold of you.” “It’s goin’ to take a little time,” said McClung. ‘‘We don’t know just what we’re goin’ to do first, and we don’t want to make no bad moves. All we wants is for you to take charge of it, ff yuh can. Yore pardner can give us the benefit of what he knows about law. We don’t want to go in’ into somethin’ and do it all wrong.”’ “No,” agreed the judge absently, “you do not want to do things wrong. It is a weighty problem, gentlemen, and I would like to talk things over with Mr. Sarg before he decides what he will do.” ‘Sure, take your time,” agreed McClung. “This ain’t nothin’ yuh can rush, but we’ve got to kinda get organized as soon as pos- sible. When can yuh let us know?” “Tomorrow,” replied the judge. morrow morning, I reckon.” TOs GOMIIGooOo S (©