Adventure Magazine Cover — page 34: what you’re looking at

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

sun-Dog Trails Bunty gasped. Of all the unadulter- ated nerve! Coming right into Marlin City! Suddenly Bunty laughed aloud; but his laugh contained little mirth. Brick and Martin must have thought that he and Three Star were still safely roped in that room. Bunty watched them ride up to the hitch- rack, and then he sat down in a chair to think. His first thought was a glad one— glad that he was not in the saloon. ex, BRICK and Scott Martin had rid- Ie ys) den the whole distance from the 'SS9)_ ranch-house in sence. Martin did not know what Brick was going to do in Marlin City, and Brick did not enlighten him. Martin studied Brick’s set features and wondered what was to come next. ‘Ridin’ into a noose?” he mused to him- self. ‘If the officers reached town and told their story, why hasn’t a posse been organ- ized? What has this red-headed spit-fire in his mind?” But the red-head was silent until Marlin City was before them, and then he said: “Pardner, there’s goin’ to be trouble, I reckon; but you let me start it, will yuh? Mebbe yuh won’t sabe my talk, but don’t let that worry yuh none. I’m goin’ to force a showdown, and some folks are goin’ to have some bad cards.” Martin nodded. He was pinning his faith to Brick Davidson. They entered the saloon and walked up to the bar.- Topaz Tyler was standing at the bar, talking with another man. King Cleeve, in shirt sleeves and eye-shade, was sitting in a lookout chair at the stud game, facing the bar. Beside him sat Zell Mohr, hat pulled low over his eyes, a substantial pile of blue chips in front of him. Over at the roulette layout a half-drunken cowboy was trying to shake the attentions of a dance-hall girl long enough to see if his number won, while a couple of other cow- boys urged the girl to get a rope and hog- tie the spendthrift. The room hummed with voices, the rattle of chips, the clink of glassware, and above it all sounded the tin-panny rattle of a piano. Brick and Scott Martin stopped mid-way -of the bar and turned facing the center of the room. ‘Their entrance had attracted no attention, and for a space of twenty sec- onds nobody noticed them. 3 33 Suddenly Zell Mohr glanced from under — the low-pulled brim of his hat, straight at the two men. Mohr’s eyes were shaded so it was impossible to see any change of ex- pression, but his lips never moved. “First king bets,” intoned the dealer; but Zell Mohr made no move to bet. “Passin’, Zell?” asked one of the players; but still Mohr made no move to play... King Cleeve looked down at Mohr, and then glanced over at the bar. Brick David- son was looking straight at him. King Cleeve blinked perceptibly. 4 The dealer sensed the tension of Mohr and Cleeve, and looked over at the bar For perhaps ten seconds there was no change in the hum and rattle of the room, and then the noise died down—down—down, like the slowing of a big piece of machinery. The bulk of the noise stopped; but here and there an extra word, the rattle of a dropped pocker-chip, the last flip notes from the piano, as if played with nervous fingers. Then silence. Topaz Tyler had half-lifted a glass of liquor to his lips, but his eyes shifted sud- denly and the glass slipped from his fingers, rolled in a noisy circle on the bar and then fell to the floor. Every eye in the place focused on Brick and Scott Martin. Brick’s eyes shifted to Topaz, who was half-turned away from the bar, and his_ voice was mildly humorous. “Losin’ your grip already, Topaz?” Topaz did not reply. His hand started toward his face as if to wipe his lips, but halted short of his chin. He stopped in the attitude of either deep thought or total abstraction. Brick’s eyes flashed back to King Cleeve, but the humor had all gone from his eyes. Brick was deadly cool. His hands hung loosely at his sides, but his elbows were half-bent, and his feet were planted far apart as if to withstand a shock. The bartender pussyfooted the length of the bar, getting out of line with Brick and the crowd. Brick’s eyes flashed sidewise, and then a grin overspread his face. He appreciated the bartender’s views on the matter. The half-drunken cowboy started to say something, but another cowboy jerked his sleeve and clapped a hand over the inebri- ated one’s mouth. Brick’s eyes flashed -” Eomichbooks:co