Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 57: what you’re looking at

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

res - declared. or alive!” he shrieked; and he settled him- ‘self back in his chair to grin crookedly as he heard them go. CHAPTER X. THE BLOODHOUND BAYS. ASENT took the trail as a hound takes to the scent, and, like the bay- ing of a hound, his voice sounded a boisterous accompaniment to the chase. Snuff Tansey had never known the dour cattleman to give such loose rein to his tongue, and Dasent himself knew that. the hot words which sprung from his lips were the voice of a passion over which he was fast losing all control. ‘« Sheffield will take us to him!” he cried ‘out as they urged their tireless ponies through the darkness. “ ’Tain’t likely. he got far, ’n’ we got to follow him. Follow!” _He swore luridly with a laugh that was in itself a curse. ‘‘ Like huntin’ down a lobo,” he growled, and rode for a moment in si- lence. ““Shucks, Jud,” Tansey protested stout- ly. “ Ain’t no manner o’ sense in ridin’ thisaway. It’s Old Man Parmelee’s dirty work. - No. hurry.” Dasent replied with a burst of resentful protest that seemed to be addressed rather to the air and the spangled sky than to the man beside him. ‘Into the rough country, that’s how they’ll ride!” he snapped. ‘“‘ Into the foot- hills! There’s a bunch of settlers out there. Up under the mountains. Hell!” he exploded with sudden irony. ‘ One flash of Aleck~Sheffield’s gun an’. they’d give everything they got. That hombre’s good fer board an’ lodgin’ anywhere on the range without anybody takin’ contracts to adver- tise it. That’s where we got to git to. Up under the Pajarito’s. But to-night. Now!” Obviously he was putting to him- self an urgent question. “ Right now it would be nice for to hit the straw,” grumbled Tansey; but Dasent ignored him. He seemed driven even as he drove his tired pony. - * He wouldn’t try fer the hills now!” he “ The kid’s close to the home VALOR. gie. ranch, Tansey. He’s close—he’s near!! Sheffield seen him before he come to the ranch. We got to trail Sheffield, an’ he ain’t hittin’ no mountain trails. It’s Shef- held we got to cover. He’ll lead us to ’em, He'll take us to the kid.” His eyes roamed over the gray horizon feverishly, his face twitched, but Tansey was not convinced. ‘“ Lots o’ time. To-day we sleep—Shef- field will. Preest, he won’t be able to wig- We'll round him up poco tiempo.” But the devil was in Dasent that night; a devil which Snuff Tansey was at loss to account for, as he was puzzled at the terri- ble parody of a smile that Dasent now turned upon him. He accompanied it with a voice low and choked with that devilish fervor. “He said ‘ dead or alive!’ ” he snarled. ‘You heard him, You was there. ‘ Dead or alive!’ That’s what the old man said.” “But we ain’t his cattle—we ain’t his dogs! He don’t own us, to make us work without sleep for him.” Tansey was whipped into protest. “ Let him wait!” Dasent seemed to Iet the other’s words. smolder in his mind. “You go back to the creek, Snuff!” he ordered suddenly. “ Git yore. sleep an’ let the boys git theirs.” He. drew rein, and Tansey pulled up beside him. : ‘“ That’s sense,” approved Tansey. ‘““Go on,” ordered Dasent. “ Me, Pm ridin’ lines on ’em. You be ready with the boys to ride by noon.” He watched Tansey canter away into the mist which preceded sunrise; then, turning his pony, he set out upon the quest which appeared to possess him like some evil spirit of medieval lore. He rode fast and far, and before the sun was high he had visited five different ranches which he suspected might shelter his quarry. With reckless disregard for what peril must have threatened him if he had run his men to earth, he rattled doorways at midnight and hailed astonished ranchers to their windows, but he didn’t find his men. When he arrived at the abandoned ranch at Bitter Creek, his pony was done, and he himself bore the pallor of a fatigue which surpassed weariness while the devil