Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 91: what you’re looking at

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

THE GREAT OUTLAW. ing outside the tent, the thud of horses’ hoofs brought to a sudden and violent standstill, and, from the distance, rifle shots, The White Horseman sprang to the open- ing of the tent. Midge ran after him. ‘Be quiet,” he said sternly. “Stay where you are. Don’t dare to move.” ““ They’ve come,” she moaned. “ I wasn’t in time.” He was gone. She sat there a little bundle of breathless horror. The noises grew louder. There were more shots. The wild shouts came nearer. _ The White Horseman came back into the tent. “Tt isn’t the troops,” he told her. “ It’s some tribesmen who have a quarrel with me. My men have been chased up by them. There are a lot of them, it seems. Sit here quietly. It will be all right. No- body must guess that you are here.” Something in his voice made her heart leap into her throat. “Are you going to fight?” “Of course we are going to fight. They are here. I am sorry. It will be a row —a mess; but it can’t be helped.” “ Oh!” She gave a little wail. ‘“ Why, oh, why didn’t you stay Mr. Drake?” ‘Surely you are not afraid!” It was his old inhuman voice. “No—not for myself.” He gave his little callous laugh. “ You needn’t be afraid for me. used to it.” “Are the odds against us?” “ They are.” The stark brutality of his answer sent a thrill through her. She rose to her feet. The cries outside stirred her soldier’s blood. “ All right,” she said. ‘* Don’t think of me. Good luck!” He gripped her hand as if she had been a man. “Can you shoot?” “* Yes.” “ Take this.”” He put a small automatic pistol in her hand. His voice had a queer light sound. “If anything happens to Mesens “All right,” said Midge again. “I’m —I’m not afraid.” 6A I’m 881 He went out. She stood erect, the pistol in her hand. ; : It was like a dream—the noise, the shouting, the frantic neighing of alarmed horses, the wild yells of the tribesmen. It grew worse. It seemed to the girl that a whole army must be fighting outside. Groans came from wounded men. Once she heard an awful sound—the butt end of a rifle crashing down on a man’s head. It was quite close to the tent. Then a silence—so sudden that it para- lyzed her. And then another wild onrush, announcing that more hostile tribesmen had arrived on the scene. It became pandemonium. She heard the White Horseman’s voice all the time, commanding, cheering, quiet and steely even when it rang out in wild words. She heard it lower, fainter. She heard an in- voluntary groan, and a yell of fury from his men, But how few voices let out that yell! She could bear it no longer. She ran out of the tent. The night-was inkily dark. The moon had disappeared. Here and there a man carried a flaring torch. Im the flickering and uncertain glare it seemed to Midge that hundreds of men were swaying madly up and down the road. Some were on horseback, others on foot. Knives flashed high in the air; from somewhere sharp- shooters must be at work, for she saw three men fall one after the other. There were bodies lying about. She stumbled over one at the entrance of the tent. She heard the White Horseman’s voice, and followed it, fighting her way. An aw- ful excitement took her completely out of herself. His voice was so faint; she felt that he was hurt. Inside a small ring of his men she found him. He was swaying from side to side, but his voice was raised in encouragement. He had a pistol in each hand. To Midge it seemed as if a sea of hid- eous distorted bearded black faces sur- rounded them. And just as she arrived, a man flung himself at the White Horse- man, with a knife in his uplifted hand, while two of his followers threw blazing torches into the White Horseman’s face. Oo Comicbooks C@