Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 124, No. 3 — page 75: what you’re looking at

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

THE WHISPERER. made Harry Yale seem to smile. It seemed to Patricia the most unpleasant smile she had ever seen. She was fascinated by the man and could not take her eyes from him when he spoke, for with every utter- ance the great Adam’s apple rolled up and down his throat, as if he were trying to swallow it and could never quite succeed. As for Bob Riddle, who came third, he was far less repulsive than the other _two. He was a half-breed, however, and he carried with him that suggestion of mys- terious and inexhaustible malice which even a tenderfoot apprehends in a thoroughly bad Indian. He was quite dignified and very silent, which made him seem more venom- ous than ever. Against the ugly background of the other three Jack Tucker was a‘ perfect Apollo. In fact, his good looks had been the ruin of him. They had made him a spoiled child and out of a spoiled childhood he grew into a youth and manhood unable to accept the rebuffs of the world. When the world struck him he struck back, and hav- ing a heavy hand and a demon temper, he struck to kill. for some years, but his killings grew greater than his winnings and he had to move on to fresh fields and pastures new. He was one of those fallen figures which excite no pity because his strength was still great enough to defy the world. CHAPTER V. THE TRAP IS SET. -S these worthies filed in, the messengers who had brought them out of the distance, vanished through the open door behind them. The gun-fighters ex- _ changed no kindly greetings. “Well?” growled Chic Woods. “Well?” snarled Harry Yale. “Well?” grunted Bob Riddle. “Well?” drawled Jack Tucker. “Don’t all ask me,” said Ugly Joe, affa- ble but a little shaken by this terse battery. “Here’s the lady that got you brought here.” The piano was in shadow in a corner of the room and the piano seal cast a 5A He had been a gambler | 449 night-deep, slanting shade over Patricia. She was only visible now, when she rose to greet the instruments of her will, and in ris- ing the light from the lamp fell softly across her face and: plashed a little spot of gold on her throat. “ Hell!” snorted Chic Woods at this sud- den apparition, and then instantly dragged the hat from his head. The shaggy hair which sprawled in snaky, black locks made him trebly horrible. ‘“ ’Scuse me, lady.” - Certainly,” said Patricia, hunting through her mind for the words with which she must explain her purpose to these grim knights of the mountain-desert. Here Jack Tucker, smoothing back his ¥cng hair and shifting his orange-colored bandanna, stepped forward, hat in hand, as a spokesman more befitting this occasion. ‘“ Me and these other gents,” said Tucker graciously, “come here because Ugly Joe sent for us, and he’s showed pretty much man to us. But if you want us, you can buy your chips now and start the game. We'll see that it’s on the square. I'll be the guy on the stick myself.” The parlance of the gambling-house was unfamiliar to Patricia, but she gathered the general meaning. “Thank you,” she said, “my name is ‘Patricia Lauriston—but Cousin Joe Greg- Ory, there, says that I’ll have to be known by a shorter name. He has suggested Pat,” ‘Which I'll agree is a good name,” said Tucker. “I’m sure glad to know you. I’m Jack Tucker. This is Chic Woods, here’s Harry Yale, and this is Bob Riddle.” She managed to keep her smile steady and shook hands with them each in turn. “ Now,” she said to Ugiy Joe, “ shall I explain why we sent for them, or will you?”’ “Pat,” said Ugly Joe, “ first, last, and all the time this 1 is your party, and run by yourself. >? “Very well,” she answered. ‘“ I've ¢ come from the East with a purpose in which I'll need the help of several men who can Shoot straight and have the courage to fight. Cousin Joe suggested you. I want to hire you. It may be hard work, so that you can practically name your own prices.” '* Seeing it’s you,” said the gallant Tuck- COLMUC OOOLK (CO