Argosy All-Story Weekly, May 5, 1928 — page 26: what you’re looking at

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

592 the stirrups backward, well-nigh par- allel with his spine, so that the Nut lay rather than sat along his back. “Gawd!” breathed Mickey Shawn. ‘Ff he goes on over. Hah! Did you see thet?” Suddenly, as he clung to the rearing horse, the Nut had grabbed at his hat. It came off his head in his hand, It slapped forward against the Sultan’s head, directly over his back-laid ears. The Sultan’s forefeet struck the ground. He screamed again in mad- dened frenzy and hurled himself straight at the farther end of the cor- ral. The Nut flung with him, cling- ing, swaying in the saddle, seeking as it appeared to replace his hat. Horse and rider flashed past the tense-faced watchers, straight as an-arrow toward the post and rail-built fence. And that way, as each of them knew, lay either crippling injury or death, for man or horse or both. “Aw, hell!” Mustang Reilley squeaked. “ Dang it, Bear Paw! Oh, Lawd!” Sultan had swerved. Faced by the barrier before him, he swung in a swirling, dust-raising turn, began to circle the corral, raced down its fur- ther side. And suddenly he swerved again and flung himself crashing broadside against the fence in what ap- peared a deliberate effort to free him- self of his rider at no matter what cost to himself. 5 It was an old equine outlaw trick which had cost many a rider a broken leg if not his life as well. ‘The watch- ers held their breath. Sultan had struck the fence in a smother of dust. For a heartbeat it practically veiled both man and horse. Then the latter emerged from it, lunging and striking at the reins which had fallen over his head. His saddle was empty. ‘Come on,” Danny Jones said grim- ly, and slid off his perch. “ Ef he ain’t dead we can run him into Meeker—” “Well—he ain’t dead,’ Mickey Shawn stayed him, grinning and point- ARGOSY-ALLSTORY WEEKLY. ing across the corral, where, minus his hat, but with that exception apparently quite himself, the Nut was regarding his plunging mount from the topmost rail of the fence. “ Well, I’m damned,’ Danny con- densed his utter amazement at the spec- tacle presented to his wide-eyed vision. “Dunno,” Mickey confessed, as Mustang, Nichols, and he joined Dan- ny on the ground. “Come on an’ let’s see what he says.” They started across the corral. From its upper end Paragonah, Swede, and Maddelena were advancing on a con- verging course. So in the end the two groups joined and made one beneath the spot where Mr. Nutting still sat upon the fence. “J say,” he remarked as they neared him, “that’s rather a vicious horse. D’ye know I think he had it in mind to crush my leg. He actually threw himself against the fence.” “His object bein’ to git you off’n his back,” Maddelena told him, smil- ing. ‘‘ An’ he seems to hev done it.” ‘Oh, but I say,” the man above him protested. ‘Nothing of the sort. When I saw what he was up to—going into the fence, you know, I could see what was apt to happen, of course. So I took my foot out of the stirrup and threw my leg over the rail when we struck. I skinned it a bit, too, I fancy.” “Well, ridin’ a rail like yo’re doin’ now is a lot easier fer beginners,” Maddelena accepted his explanation while the other riders glanced at one another. ‘‘ Sawhosses, too, ain’t so very—rough. Whether you got off or he put you off, don’t matter so much, I reckon. ‘The fac’ remains thet you air off an’ you’ve had yore lesson.” “Oh, but—” the Nut began again, and shifted his position, “I hardly think one would call it that. Bea good chap and catch the brute for me again while I get my hat. I dropped it— somewhere.” His eyes searched the corral, and he scrambled from his perch, 1A EO LMMIC LOOKS Cola