Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 135: what you’re looking at

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

THE BEAM. her away from me, not? You would see the old man all alone again.” “No,” Hamilton interposed hastily. ‘You shall come and live with us.” Oom Piet waved his hand impatiently. ‘“ Maybe, yes. But we will talk of that later. Now you will want to see Katje. She is down at the barn—her horse is sick. Come! Bring your horse, too, if he will not stand.” ‘““He will stand,” Hamilton said cheer- fully—the old chap wasn’t such a fire-eater after all—as he followed the Dutchman. They came presently to a barn, the large doors of which were slightly ajar. ‘““Come,” said Oom Piet impatiently. *¢ She is in here.” But Hamilton hesitated, and his hand hovered about his revolver holster. “I don’t think—” he began. Then four dark forms seemed to ma- terialize out of the shadows and leaped upon him. They were naked, their bodies were well greased, so that Hamilton found it impossible to secure a hold on them; neither could he extricate himself from their slimy embrace. The struggle was a very short one. Taken unaware, and outnumbered five to one—for Oom Piet assisted his natives— Hamilton had no chance. Quickly they gagged and trussed him, then lifting him to their shoulders, the four Hottentots car- ried him into the barn and there uncere- moniously dropped him to the floor. “Now, go—you black dogs,” Oom Piet ordered harshly, ‘“‘ and see that you do not return. This is a white man’s indaba.” They departed quickly, silently, and Oom Piet, squatting on the ground near his prisoner, a half-mad light in his eyes, gazed fixedly at the bound man. He chuckled softly in answer to the questioning look of horror in Hamilton’s face, knowing that that man had seen the beam and the new rope which was thrown over it. And at one end of the rope was a | noose—a hangman’s noose—which dangled just above Hamilton’s head. A shaft of moonlight coming through a large hole in the roof of the barn focused like a spotlight upon the beam and the rope, casting horrible, grotesque shadows. 925 “It is good,” said Oom Piet softly, rub- bing his hands briskly together. ‘‘ You have heard the story of the beam—Katje has told you, not?” Hamilton nodded. “Almighty! Then it is now time. ‘ An eye for an eye,’ says the Good Book; ‘A tooth for a tooth.’ ” He adjusted the noose around Hamil- ton’s neck, and then, his face grim, took the other end of the rope in his hands and pulled steadily on it. “That is for my grandfather the ver- doemte Rooineks hung,’’ Oom Piet said as Hamilton struggled to a sitting position, seeking relief from the terrible, choking strain. Hamilton got to his knees, forced up by the pressure of the rope. “That for my nephew the Rooineks shot,” continued Oom Piet. Hamilton stumbled to his feet and had great difficulty in standing—bound as he was. The rope was taut. “That for my son they hanged from this beam.” Oom Piet’s voice was the voice of @ judge pronouncing the death sentence— and he pulled steadily on the rope. Hamilton was standing on tiptoes, now, his feet were almost off the ground; they were no longer supporting his weight, and there was nothing else he could do to ease the torturing, choking strain on his neck, “My good vrouw died slowly,” mocked Oom Piet. “It is well, then, that you should wait so for a little while.” He breathed deeply, calling upon the last ounce of his strength which would en- able him to hoist Hamilton high into the alr. “ And this for Katje,” he screamed sud- denly, and heaved on the rope with all his weight, with all the strength that was in him. There was a dull, smothered explosion. The beam, the apparently solid beam crum- bled, vanished in a cloud of dust. Hamilton fell to the ground in a shape- less, huddled heap; Oom Piet toppled over backward, speechless, greatly frightened. ‘* Almighty!” he whispered in awed tones as the realization of the cause of things CONNIE DOOKS (CO) im