Adventure Magazine Cover, June 20, 1925 — page 103: what you’re looking at

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

Lisbeth 85 with her. He gave them a small feed, of oats and while they ate he resaddled. “There’s mighty long odds ag’in ye, ole girl,”’ he confided to Lisbeth. “We could put back to the mouth o’ that cafion an’ git back to Timber City before they could ketch us, but we never did let nothin’ scare us out, an’ I ain’t in favor o’ beginnin’ now. How ’bout you, ole lady?” Lisbeth waggled her ears in complete ‘agreement. Picking his way carefully through the timber Alex followed a course almost paralle! with that taken by the bandits. ‘The wagon road traversed the center of the valley and he soon found that he was traveling almost abreast of the man driving the horses. It did not require the aid of his glass now to keep this fellow’s movements under surveil- lance; indeed his problem was to hug the timber close enough not to be seen himself. Frequently this involved tedious detours where the timber receded far up some cove or cafion. Gradually the man with the horses drew ahead, and then Alex frequently cut straight across in the open. It had been bitterly cold that morning, but the temperature had been rising steadily. Owing to his absorption in watching the movements of his enemies he had failed to note the change in the weather until something moist struck him in the face. With an oath he suddenly took note that the air behind him was full of feathery snow- flakes. Within five minutes the view ahead of him for more than a few hundred feet was blotted out by the bent, dry snow that fell soundlessly. As long as it continued to snow it would not be so bad; it might even prove to be a good thing as it would cover the mules’ tracks almost as fast as they appeared. But when it quit snowing, as he was sure it soon would, their tracks would betray them. He turned into the first sheltered cove, unsaddled and made camp. He was deter- mined to make what use he could of the snowstorm, and soon he had a fire going and coffee in the pot. At least there was no im- mediate danger of the smoke betraying him. By the time he had eaten his first cooked meal since leaving Timber City it had ceased tosnow. ‘The whole valley lay under a thin blanket of white, but in the thin, clear air it was possible to see clear across it once more. He decided that for the present the best thing was to remain where he was rather than to leave more tracks for the outlaws to pick up. Again he climbed to the top of a pinnacle, but this time he could not quite see the place where the wagon road left the valley. At last, however, he saw the man who kad been driving the horses. This time, however, he was going back, and he was only driving two horses. For a short time Alex was puzzled, and then comprehension dawned upon him. This iellow was going back to where the road en- tered the valley ; the other two had remained at the place where the road left it. They knew by the tracks he had left that he had entered the valley, and by the absence of them at the upper end they knew that he had never left it. They had him bottled up, for the granite walls of the cafion, excepting these two breaks, were unscalable. : There was nothing for him to do now but wait for night, and the kind of night it was to be would, perhaps, mean everything to him. If only it would be dark and stormy he would stand a good chance of getting by the outlaws without detection. But if it was cold and clear ' Long before night he knew which it was going to be. The last remaining cloud had settled just above the west bank of hills. A cold, penetrating wind was finding its way through his clothing and making him stamp up and down to keep warm. It would bea cold, clear night. He could not build a fire for there was not a doubt in the world but that his enemies were watching for that very thing. To stay where he was and consume his small store of provisions, and court further delay was likewise impossible. , At nightfall he saddled up again and worked his way carefully up the edge of the valley until he was within half a mile of the cafion by which the road left the valley. Here he left the mules and reconnoitered carefully on foot. In a narrow place in the cafion, where it was really not more than six rods wide he saw the camp of the outlaws. There were several dead fir trees there—he remembered having camped by them when he came in—and a huge fire had been built at the foot of them. One of the standing trees, pitchy nearly to the top, was a mass of flame for sixty feet. The whole bottom of the cafion was illuminated, and the ilickering flame from the burning tree at times lighted the entire south wall of the canon. COMIGDIOOKSEEO