Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 16: what you’re looking at

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

642 ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. Mr. Perkins chose the West as the theater for a story of thrills, romance, surprise and ingenuity. Tom Drury, cowboy, tames a man-killing horse named Crater and thereby prevents its public execution. Its owner, Jennie Lee, granddaughter of Peter Gaunt, gives the animal to the daring rider. Then Drury rides away into the desert to punish an outlaw known as the Gila Monster, who had driven the aged man and the beautiful girl from their ranch. He wages a desperate battle against the bandit gang, his greatest handicap being the reign of terror that its members have inaugurated in the sparsely settled country. The Gila Monster is finally destroyed, the instru- ment of death being the furious horse, Crater, which objected to a stranger in the saddle. Jennie and Tom now acknowledge only the sway of love. The fourth Western story was THE GUN-FANNER, June to to July 1, 1922. Cal Triggers, a killer, enters as a contestant in a rodeo where the prize is more than gold, and the result is gun-play and high adventure. Old Scrub Hazen’s beautiful ward, Nan, is a romantic girl, and he plans to marry her off to Saul Meakin in a winner-takes-the-woman contest. The wily guardian, of course, chooses a program of events in which Meakin is expert. The appearance in town of the formidable ‘Triggers is a shock, but the girl gamely orders the rodeo to proceed. After Triggers wins, however, she refuses to accept him. Undaunted, he abducts her from the ranch-house and carries her off to the desert, where she discovers that a despised desperado can be a true gentleman. After that, all the sheriffs’ posses in the world could not change the course of events from leading to wedding bells. Tom Mix appeared in the screen version of the story as the renegade hero. THE BELOVED BRUTE appeared August 12 to September 16, 1922. This powerful novel depicted the regeneration of a man so sodden with the lust of fighting that he is hardly human. Charles Hinges, a gigantic youth of wild repute, is cursed by his dying father who leaves a blessing to his younger son, David, and a prophecy that his favorite some day will conquer the lawless brother. In the Bad Lands town of Little Hell the surly giant is inspired by an aged fortune-telling witch to rescue Jacinta, a dance hall girl, from the clutches of China Jones, a half-breed, and his gang. Then the three become gypsy troubadours, and here begin the adventures through which Charles Hinges wins the salvation of his soul. Finally, David Hinges appears and accepts the defiance of the unknown Charles the Wrestler to a match. The younger brother wins after a terrific effort, but without knowing he has thrown his own brother. The defeated one fears that he has lost the love of Jacinta, but in the end his self-sacrifice in a deadly emergency is more potent to hold her than the sheer strength of his great muscles. JUNGLE TEST, January 13 to February 10, 1923, is a story of India dealing with the tradition that the jungle passes judgment on all men who come under its influence. It cows many, and crushes some, and few come through its green menace unscathed. (Mr. Perkins, incidentally, was born in India, the son of American parents. He was graduated from Pomona College, Claremont, California, where he became an instructor in English and taught in extension courses.) In this absorbing novel Diane Herries, an American girl on a trip around the world, is carried off from a little village by an apelike dwarf of the jungle. Her fiancé, lan Dunboyne, hires a native as guide and sets out to rescue her. The trail leads him to his sweetheart and he frees her and captures the dwarf, but the jungle is not yet through with them. When the time of trial comes, Dunboyne falters miserably. His guide then reveals himself as James Belleu, of the Indian Civil Service. No longer is he a make-believe native, but a white man in pride and bearing, and he compels the jungle lords to acknowledge his superiority, Diane Herries accepts the verdict of rajah and elephant and cobra, and chooses Belleu instead of Dunboyne as her mate. QUEEN OF THE NIGHT, starting in this number of the Arcosy-ALLsTory WEEKLY, is a flashing, dashing romance. Out of a dead man’s sea chest three wild mariners take golden treasure—and more trouble than the money was worth. There is a tigerlike girl, Juana. El Gato, once a fighter of bulls, is a mad brawler among men. So here are the metals for a typical Kenneth Perkins novel, gold and cold steel and the quicksilver of emotion. Turn now to the immediate grip of the opening chapter. COmicloool< (C@