Argosy All-Story Weekly — page 159: what you’re looking at

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

ce. A = ¢ Sg oo Sf. OY, 4. 4 2 aw LZ oe, we eNN [a Viz (penta By JAMES W. EGAN K, viewed the four heads bunched over the bunkhouse table with strong disapproval, even downright disgust. Every evening on the ranch now it was the same thing; this quartet of beef wranglers gathered under the lamplight from the moment .the supper dishes were cleared away until late into the night. “Have yuh got seven horryzontul yit, Doc?” came the harsh voice of sawed-off Stubby Larkin. : ‘“Dang it, what’s a period of time in three letters, nohow?’’ exploded Speck Hasty. , “* Aw, that’s in ’em every night, Speck!” jeered Pete Brown. “ It’s ‘ ery,’ uv course!”’ “* Erie, hell!” Speck warmly retorted. * Ain’t that the name uv a railroad back East? Sure! I took a trip on her once, yuh iggerant sheepherder! Erie!” Pe UPTON, foreman of the Kickin’ “Hold on, boys!” cried Doc Cushing, quelling incipient warfare. “‘ The word is. ‘era ’—e-r-a. And I think I’ve got seven horizontal now! It’s practically an obsolete term.” ee Link Upton snorted mildly. Doe Cush- ing, the puncher who was rumored to have attended college in his youth, naturally had assumed leadership of the quartet when the crossword puzzle craze hit the Kickin’ K. The erudite Doc knew scores of words the remainder of the outfit had been unaware existed. . The foreman’s own education had been confined mainly to horses, cows and kin- dred things. Link could ride, rope and shoot with the best in Wyoming, and in his thirty-three years of life had gained a thorough and practical understanding of the cattle business.. But when it came to book learning he was almost a total loss. 469 = = .comicbook