Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 54: what you’re looking at

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

210 - the chair before the fireplace, and clenched his teeth tightly so that the tumultuous emotion in his heart would not spill out in soliloquy. ‘There was no doubt in his mind as he recalled the boy’s furtive visit to his room, and the purloined gun, that David had sallied forth to deputize for him in the hanging of Harper Preest; and he rocked his stricken body in impatience as he waited for news of that event. ~ Inspite of the stroke that had befallen him _ jit the darkness, in spite of a sickness which filled him with that subtle, inadmissible un- easiness for the future, he was upheld by the elation he felt in the knowledge that David had pledged himself to the life of what Bartholomew Parmelee conceived to be a man. So when Dasent and his frus- trated cortege came cantering to the ranch in the pallid morning they found him gray faced and gaunt in his chair, but they found, as well, that his face was illumined with a smile. He almost arose in his eagerness as Dasent and Tansey entered the ranch house with their resentment bubbling at their lips. “Where is he?” Old Man Parmelee’s voice was exuberant in anticipation. ‘“‘-Where’s the boy?” he demanded. It appeared almost as if he were ready to take his son into his arms. Dasent stared at him, amazed. ““Rode all to hell!” he snapped “ An’ Preest with him. What’s yore game, any- way?” It was interesting to see the effect of that speech upon old Parmelee. It was interest- ing to see how his eyes narrowed, how his teeth set, and*the muscles of his face tight- ened, bulging under the skin of reddish gray. It was an exhibition of perfect con- trol, for the man’s iron nerve had well- nigh snapped under this brutal revelation that his dream was dust; that something had gone wrong. “Talk sense!” he rasped coldly. “‘ Where is David?” Dasent examined the autocrat in per- plexity. His amber, black flecked eyes smoldered upon the old man. They seemed to be always watching, as the eyes of a Jeopard watch the trainer. Treacherous ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. eyes, they were, and now they were clouded with perplexity. ** How sh’d I know?” he protested. “ He rode in all burnin’ up with crazy ambition; he stuck up the party an’ took Preest away with him.” ‘““T don’t believe it!” said Parmelee. “He stuck us up!” Tansey loudly flew to the aid of his companion. Old Man Parmelee gazed from one to the other of them savagely. ‘*'Yo’re lyin’ to me, Dasent!’’ he gritted. “*'Yo’re workin’ between you to throw me down, an’ yo’re fools enough to think you can do it. Now tell me the truth of this business without any of yore lies an’ yore sneakin’.” His voice whipped the air like a lash. “ Did: Harper Preest get away from you?” he demanded. ‘““The kid stampeded the party,” whined Dasent doggedly. Parmelee moved im his chair like an ani- mal in the confines of a cage too small. It was as though he were bound and strained at his bends. “Tell me what’s true!” he demanded. “ Y’ve told you!” Dasent flung the words out angrily. ‘“ We had it all fixed to swing him orf. The kid comes in and throws a gun on us—” He paused uneasily. “ Did you send him?” he asked suddenly. * Likely I'd send him!” snarled the old man. ‘Yo’re crazy. Or it’s the kid. He never threw a gun in his life.” “But he did! He stuck up the whole party, and by God, if you want the truth, we damn near. shot him full o’ daylight!” A. dull flush rose under the old man’s skin. S “The kid did that!” he cried out in a terrible voice, so that the two men started and were discomposed. “‘ My son! David! He stopped the hangin’?” Dasent nodded. ‘“ He took Preest orf with him,” he replied. “And where was. you?’ What was you- all doin’? You mean to say you let a yellow livered kid take Preest out o’ yore hands like that?” Dasent frowned. ‘I told you how it was. We took the gun orf the kid and had him crawlin’; but Aleck Sheffield horned in Ghookszcom an’ covered their get-away.” (COlAN