Adventure Magazine Cover — page 136: what you’re looking at

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

892 when running, she was sure an absorbin’ proposition to stop. I couldn’t see any way to do it, an’ I hollered to Gus to tell me the secret, but couldn’t hear his answer. I cir- cled round him ten or fifteen times an’ then I saw him jump into the water an’swim out to my trail. I’d worn it about as plain as a sheep-run. As I ambled past him for the twelfth or fourteenth time, he grabbed the edge of the boat an’ I hauled him in. He touched his finger on something, an’ the firin’ stopped. Then he worked her along- side the Fayette, an’ turned to me. “How is it all, Mr. Plimsoll? Miss Langford?” I told him what was done, plain an’ truth- ful, an’ he went over on to the Fayette an’ laid down an’ laughed—laughed till I kicked him in the ribs an’ told him that he was shakin’ the engine loose an’ he’d better stop if he ever wanted to use her again. “Use her!” he gurgled. ‘‘Not much! You’ve brought me the boat I’m going to use. I don’t know how I'll ever get a chance to even up with you for all this, Buck—ex- cuse me calling you Buck; I feel as if we were good old long-lost friends, just got back to each other!” Then we got back into the Uinta an’ he whirled the wheel again an’ steered over to the bank, an’ said: “TIl go up and get Miss Langford now. You'll wait here until we come down, I suppose?” “Surest thing you know,” I agreed. Then he stepped back to a little locker an’, after fussin’ some, came out with a bottle. “Guess you'll appreciate a little refresh- ment after your seafaring experiences,’’ he gurgled, an’ without waitin’ to take any himself he sprang up the bank toward Hinckley’s. Appreciate! Well, I’m sure talkin’! I was so arid that the Great Salt Lake Desert would seem like a swamp in comparison. I “appreciated” to the good-luck of Gus and the girl. Then I “appreciated” to the wel- fare of that cute little impersonator Charlie; an’ after a cigarette, I thought of Langford an’ the shaffer meanderin’ along that hot dusty trail toward Mill Gulch, an’ I “‘ap- Pig ee once more to sympathize with them. Where is Adventure Then Gus an’ the girl came down the bank. Her eyes were full of twinklin’ sauci- ness as she rippled up to me an’ slipped her little hand into mine an’ let it lie there while she said: “You ought to join our motor club, Mr. Plimsoll. Gus has told me of your masterly work, and you’d be welcome among us— oh, so welcome!”’ An’ although she was bubbling with fun, I knew that she meant just that, an’ I told her that if she an’ Gus would come out to the Fuzzy H ranch after their honey- moon, my bunch of riders would show ’em things about the real ole unvarnished West, an’ she promised to come. ‘That’s what I’m going over to little ole Omaha for— to buy some real furniture an’ one of them patent music-rustlers with a horn to it. Gus had been writing on a slip of paper, an’ he explained: “T’m going to leave this on the Fayette, so that our old friend Buck will not be ac- cused of stealing the Uznta. Then he read it off: ““DEAREST Papa: Thanks for the loan of the Uinta. She will come in very handy, as after our wedding this afternoon at Larrinta we shall use her for a honeymoon tour down the river. Make your- self at home with the Fayette until we return. All she needs is gasoline. With love, Gus and MURIEL.” Then they boarded the Uinta, bid me good-by as if I was a brother, an’ went off to Larrinta. The conductor sprang to his feet, watch in hand. ‘‘Three minutes to Vernal!’ he announced. ‘‘What became of the old man and the chaffeur?”’ : ‘““Meandered clear into Mill Gulch!” grinned Buck. ‘An’ found the girl’s hat an’ coat at the tavern, with a note ex- plainin’ just how they got there. When I came through Lariat City the other day I met Charlie an’ ole Langford on the street. Charlie introduced me, an’ although the ole man looked solemn at first, he said that the turn I made with the Uznia at the head of the bay was the most spectacular he’d ever seen. Then he made us go into the Golden Pioneer Café an’ have a lunch an’ the usual etceteras, which we done, effective an’ joyous.” Comiclbooks (©