Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 7, 1925 — page 124: what you’re looking at

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

+ | x. a “naa at “Pt. A rib A oY mi Are it She Ae SALA T RH Mr tay a) Weal h es UA rie er ACO Ay Ores eee Ah yn { ahi 7 "ty poe er Ny oy 'y v PS \ ifs. AY dott yr ~ tage 594 “wea render it over a ae and spread it on — 4 “ That? Ss what § ae in mind. hee L felt my arm gettin? worse. I was headin’ for here when I struck the Rignal shack.” He laughed. = aay 's been elsht years since eae lived here,” he went on. “Two or three times a year I ride here to see how things are comin’. daw got after him. But I never suspected ‘that the time would come / when Vd have to use it.” | ‘ Edna repeated what she had told Hien. of the conversation between Naylor and Tra-- vis, when he had said: “ An’ Matt thinkin’ he was hangin’ Ross Nevins! But any- how, Matt got Hamlin.” Edna added that if = could reach the sherifi he could clear himself. Ves,” he said, é ve thought of that. It’s mighty plain the whole thing was a frame-up, Indians an’ all. I'll get to Cal- lahan. But yore got | to stay here until I do.” — He looked long at her, Se ie ae to her that he was having. some difficulty in finding her. dulled, his face was a ghastly white, and he was holding Gehiy to the pommel of the saddle. Apparently, - having succeeded in getting her into his vision, he smiled. “Tl be showin’? you the place where you ‘Il have to live until I get back,” he said. “It’s right over here.” He wheeled ie horse aad sent it along the edge of the level, westward. Edna followed aoe and observed with dismay that he swayed perilously, and that his head kept drooping forward, jerkily, in the manner of a man sitting erect In a chair, napping, and trying to fight off drowsiness. | _ that, Edna now realized, had been her chief jing through a narrow passageway hewn from the solid rock, he reached another He rade onward though, until after pass- level. Here he halted and waved his right arm. “Svenson’s house,” he announced. Amazed, Edna stared. They were on a Grewiar: level, not more : ‘than fifty feet in diameter. — _ I’ve often thought this would make a dandy place for a man to hole up if the The light in his eyes had — of entrance or egress. here. : The rock wall | ARGOSY- pLTSTORY WEEKLY. which « on the level they had just eft had towered about. a hun ired_ feet above them, had sloped downward ‘until it was not more _ than thirty or forty feet high. But above their heads was a giant overhang that arched out ever them like a huge, inverted bowl. The “atch formed a great cave, with smooth, painted walls. Along its: edge eTew ferns” oe long fronds drooped are she could almost touch them. In the rear of the cave, against the smooth wall, was a rock ledge several feet wide and enhape eight or ten feet above the level upon which their horses stood. Edna rode close to it, and although. she rose in the stirrups, she could not see over its edge, There was a balcony of logs around the edge of the ledge, and a ladder leaning against it. The Jadder was light, and Edna felt that it had purposely been made that way to facilitate drawing it upward to the ledge. She was certain that her conclu- sion was correct when she observed a bunk on the ledge. That, she felt, was were the man, Sven- son, slept during ‘his oe of the place. It was safe, secure. She finished her. foe of the ledge ‘and her attention was attracted to the east wall of the cave, where wood ashes and charred sticks showed where Svenson had built. his. fires. 3 3 +<HiT row passageway iheouah whic they had entered had a door, or a heavy gate built of slender saplings lashed together with 7 es vines, the gate itself swinging from heavy pegs cee into crevices of the wall. There was a heavy bar, and slots into which the bar could be slid. The passageway formed the salt means Once in this place, Svenson had no need to worry about wild animals that might be prowling about. And concern when Nevins had proposed coming But at this moment Edna’ s thoughts went — to Nevins. He was ee the bag of provisions they had brought. from the Rignal cabin, and as. she watched hi him the bag fell to the floor of ‘the cave. - Nevins sat, Jeaning over com