Argosy All-Story Weekly, February 18, 1928 — page 28: what you’re looking at

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

826 lope over here to-morrow night. But don’t take any unnecessary chances. Things are going very nicely as it is.” Less than an hour later Blackie Sander- son was hopefully telling mild old John Ballou of the telegrams that had been dis- patehed, one of which would be likely to reach Blue Steel. No cow hand left the domains of the Wagon Wheel on the following day, al- though it was pay day at the Wagon Wheel and old John Ballou paid off each man. The next day following was Wednesday, when old Tom Tolliver was buried in the little Poco cemetery, and most of the coun- try except the Wagon Wheel ranch turned out. They would do the same at Jeremiah Steele’s obsequies—that is, all except the Lazy S outfit. Both Tolliver and Steele had been highly respected and admired in the community. As dawn of Thursday arrived, and Blue Steel had still failed to put in an appear- ance, John Ballou gave out the information that Jeremiah’s funeral would start from the ranch house at ten o’clock, Evidently the telegrams had failed to reach the wan- dering scion of the Steele family; or per- haps, it was thought by some, Blue Steel had got himself into some other scrape, or had gone wandering away on some new adventure. There was not a single snicker on Thurs- day morning when Sam Latham, Poco’s one undertaker, who also sold bull-rakes and ranching machinery, alighted from his buggy at the Wagon Wheel wearing a tall silk. hat. At other times the hands of certain Wag- on Wheel waddies might itch to lasso that tall and imposing tile. The dignity of death enwrapped the Wagon Wheel this day. 3 There was no conversation, nor any smoking of wheatstraws as the mounted cavalcade passed along the road to Poco in the rear of old Jerry Steele’s body. Lafayette Dunstan and most of the neighbors were in attendance, as they had been in attendance at the Tolliver funeral the day before. Sheriff Reynolds was on hand in the double capacity of mourner ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. and official. It was unlikely, but still just possible, that something might happen as the Wagon Wheel outfit rode by the acreage of the Lazy S. But nothing did happen. The follow- ers gathered at the cemetery, and Jere- miah’s body was laid beside that of Sally Ballou Steele, who had died some years before. The Corral Saloon was passed by on the return trip without so much as a glance in its direction. The Wagon Wheel boys knew how to honor their dead. It was a day of sorrow and silence—almost of omi- nous silence. CHAPTER IX. NEWS FROM POCO. LUE STEEL was of that tribe of men B whom adventure seems to follow and whose very presence seems to breed excitement. Things happened when Blue Steel was around. Possibly the holdup of the Elite Opera House box office would have occurred any- how that night, but, as it happened, things had been slow in Lariat for months. The last great excitement had struck Lariat at the time Blue Steel had left town, months before. The Big Horn Express had been held up on that occasion near Lariat Gorge, a few miles above the town of Lariat, and it had been Blue Steel who had brought the ban- dits to justice, heading the band of riders which combed the hills north of the town. And now, on the very day of his return, things started popping again. The lone bandit who had cashed in on the capacity house of the luckless “‘ Grass Widows ” by the simple expedient of stick- ing his six-gun in the box office man’s face had backed across the wooden sidewalk to the roadway, and vaulting into the saddle of his waiting horse, had galloped along the little main street of the town and head- ed north toward the region where, especially at night, he might elude any possible pur- suers and make a complete get-away to- ward the Black Hills by morning. It was evident that the men of Lariat, Eomichooks (E(8)