Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 56: what you’re looking at

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

312 “not feel you was up against a man without defense. He said that if you hung Preest it would be over his dead body, and if you’d shot him down his gun would never have answered ba Parmelee glared up at the speaker with- out any sign of sympathy. When he spoke his words had the effect of a detached: cu- riosity. His harsh voice held no note of compromise. “He didn’t crawl?” he asked. ““He faced that pack of coyotes with more nerve than ever £ seen in: my: life!” Aleck’s voice fell deep with the warmth of his feeling. ‘“ An’ I’m here to say: that nerve ain’t the word. That kid stood there on the hill with the light of an angel in his eyes. He held ’em back by a spirit you an’ me can’t know of, an’ by God, I'd have shot down my own brother himself if he’d tried to hurt him then!” His voice fell into a quieter vein. ‘““} was standin’ by the tree, Bart, an’ ‘watchin’ close; because on the ride over I'd found out that I was backin’ that kid before you, or myself, or the whole tarna- tion world! An’ when Buck Saunders threw up his gun, I shot it out of his hand;. because, after seein’ the kid make his stand there on the hill, I’d of shot to protect him if I'd never seen hair nor hide of him be- fore. “That kid of yores is a man clean through, an’ he’s a higher kind of man than you. or me or this whole range has ever seen. If he wants to stay out in the chap- ‘paral all his days, I’m with him. If he wants to hold Preest against you, or the ‘whole United States army, my gun’s behind him! An’ if you got half the heart an’ soul in you that shines out o’ his two eyes, you will be with him, too. An’ what’s more, you'll thank the everlastin’ God that he’s a son of yores!” Old Man Parmelee had listened to this man’s deep, restrained voice without abat- ing the cold glitter of his eyes. It was his custom to keep all his argument and reason in his mind. When he spoke it was only to voice his conclusions, and he voiced sii now. “That boy,” he rasped ‘“ has taken out ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY, of my hands the power that God has given me. He’s thrown my own words back into my face an’ spited an’ humiliated me. An’ now he’s won over my: best man. You say that yo’re takin’ his side agenst me. All right. “ Go out an’ tell him that I got a rawhide whip next my chair in the daytime, an’ hangin’ over my bed at night. When he wants to come back here, I’m goin’ to take that whip and flay the hide orf him!” The iron, unwavering monotone of his voice gave his words the ominous signifi- cance of. an immutable sentence. Aleck, sensing this, looked down on him with a quality of pity in his eyes that caused Old Man: Parmelee to grit his teeth in re- sentment. “Tl tell him that yo’re doin’ as weil as could be expected,” said Aleck dryly, and he turned: to. Dasent and Tansey. “ I don’t want no company!” he warned them suc- cinctly, and without further words he strode from the room. The old: man sat silent, and the others made. no sound as they listened to the noise of the hoofbeats which followed Aleck’s de- parture. The silence was broken by Par- melee. He clapped his hands down upon the arms of his chair so that they made a sudden, sharp noise in the stillness of the room. “Get out and after them!” he shouted with a furious impetuosity. ‘ Get them! Get Preest if you have to ride to hell for him, an’ don’t let nothin’ stand in yore way.” Dasent sprang to his feet. He had been watching the old man narrowly throughout this strange exchange of violent emotions, and now as he spoke he seemed inspired by some subtle demon. “You want them?” he cried feverishly. “You want them even if we have to fight?” “I want Harper Preest if you have to kill orf a hundred men to get him!” old Parmelee roared. ‘Get him! That’s all!” ‘Dead or alive?” demanded Dasent, and he appeared to hang some mad significance upon his question. Old Man Parmelee glared up at him as if himself on the verge of madness.‘ Dead