Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 154: what you’re looking at

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

310 “Do you know what you’re sitting un- der?” he drawled. The other looked up through the filigree of leaves and branches at the pleasant blue and gold of the sky. The sun was like a pan of sizzling butter; and floating across the zenith were feathery white clouds— swishy clouds, as though swept by some celestial broom. Then against the white background appeared three black patches which glided back and forth, described great swooping circles, and finally hovered for a while, almost motionless. He brought his gaze back to the limbs of the tree and grunted to the question an indifferent af- firmation. “Kind of a funny place to sit, ain’t it?” ‘“T-used to know some of these guys,” replied the man under the tree. “ I’m sort of interested.” There was a brief silence as the stranger turned and spat at a cactus leaf on the far side of the buckboard. He missed and the road spat back a puff of gray dust. “ Darn good job though.” The other looked up blankly. “T say it’s a darn good job—hanging those fellows.” “Ves, I guess they were a pretty bad lot. Some of them were good scouts though. Take that one hanging on the end there. He could fight with anything from a beer bottle to a rapier, and he was a prince to talk or drink with. Sierra Sam always had something of the old time cavalier about him. Look at those mustachios, for in- stance, and that crimson sash around his waist. Even his rope necklace he wears with a distinguished air.” The buckboard driver dropped the reins. His horse nearly fell. ‘‘ You seem to be quite an admirer of his.” | “YT am. On the other hand that fellow next to him was a surly cuss. You couldn’t trust him long enough to blink your eyes.” He looked up to where hung Zapato, the half-breed renegade, with his eyes and tongue disgustingly protruding. “ He was brave, all right, but you could never be sure his delight in disemboweling gringos wouldn’t be directed against yourself.” “ Who was that next to him?” The ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. stranger pointed to a pair of great feet which dangled from the topmost branch. “Walrus Bill? There wasn’t an ounce of meanness in old Bill. There was just barely room in the big hogshead for his heart, and he used to kill deputies with all the good nature of a mastiff.” The driver looked again, as though to re- assure himself that Bill was dead. “ It’s funny,” he said, “I never knew any of those guys. I’ve lived around here for thirty years and that little one on this side is the only one that even looks familiar.” “ Little Dude Davie? You would have been more apt to know him. He acted as a link between the band and the express companies and banks. He looks ridiculous there, don’t he, beside the walrus? Davie used to be a forger and pickpocket, but he got tired of being respectable, so he came out West.” The stranger crossed his legs and leaned back, one arm holding apart his head and the seat. ‘‘ You didn’t happen to know the chief, too, did you? I’d be willing to trade the whole lot for him. He’s the cleverest crook we’ve had out here since the early days.” The man under the tree flicked an ant from the tall heel of his boot. “I don’t know,” he said dubiously. ‘TI figure it’s more luck than anything else, with a little ordinary head work thrown in maybe.” “How do you mean?” “Well, the night they were caught, for instance. The chief’d be hanging up there now only he happened to be in town with a toothache.” ““ Where’d you get that?” “We go to the same dentist.” Another gray puff from the road, and the driver grew reflective. Yes,” he conceded, “ that was luck all right. But take that express robbery he pulled last month. That train was a regu- lar traveling arsenal, and yet they wasn’t a shot fired.” “Just an example of the head work I was telling you about. The chief figured the job’d go off a lot smoother if the guards had ammunition without any pow- der in it, so one of his gang who was work- ing with the company fixed it HD for him.” Eomicboo CSCO