Argosy All-Story Weekly, Vol. 123, No. 4 — page 185: what you’re looking at

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

A SLIGHT He came out of the hill above thé springs, and there a most unusual sight met his eyes. A large group of men, most of them masked, seemed to be giving their at- tentions to a young man. He was tied, hand and foot, and the rope circling his neck was passed over the limb of a tree. Dan Tucker cudgeled his mind for an explanationeof these strange proceedings. It could not be a picnic at this time of night. If the young man had been a negro in the place of being a’ white man and a gen’man, Dan would have understood the situation. Suddenly he had an illuminating inspi- ration. “ It’s some lodge,” he thought, “‘ initiatin’ a new member.”’ Feeling guilty of spying on the rites of a secret fraternal order, he concluded to steal away unobserved. But as he crept into the bushes he saw something that made him pause. The young man’s face was ban- daged and he further showed signs of rough treatment. And they, were actually tight- ening the rope and lifting him from the ground. “Lodge. or rio lodge,” Dan thought, “ that’s no way to initiate a man.”’ The next instant he had stepped into the open and commanded: “¢ Stop that!” “Who the.h—” began the leader. Tucker made no response to the leader’s broken sentence. He saw the glint of sey- eral guns in the crowd, but a gun was no new sight to Dan Tucker. He walked into the mob, pulled the rope from the limb and stood in front of the intended victim. “ You-all are too rough,” he remon- strated. “I ain’t got nothin’ again’ secret orders an’ initiations if they don’t go too far. But you can see that this boy is sufferin’ an’s had enough. ’Scuse me for buttin ’in not bein’ a member, but—”’ “ Stand back!” Alf Riggs shouted with an oath, waving a revolver menacingly. . Then Dan Tucker began to see that there was more to it than a harmless initiation. ~“He threw on the ground his gunny-sack, in which were several sticks of dynamite he had brought for the purpose of blasting out the larger rocks. Slowly, very slowly, he SERVICE. - 691 began to unlimber his guns-—so slowly that they could have riddled him many times over. He went after them as another man would ‘reach for a chew of tobacco. But not a gun was fired; not a hand raised. .They watched him, fascinated, horrified; the calm deliberateness of the man held them spellbound. Perhaps they knew that if some one tried to “start something,” the guns would come out with lightninglike rapidity, spouting as they came. Then, as Hal Evarts confessed. many years later, the mob found itself looking into the mouths of two cannon. ‘“ Not the little old-fashioned kind they used back in “the Civil War, but these nine-thousand ton how-is-yers they’re using in France now.” ‘“‘ Now, don’t let none o’ yer guns go off by accident,” counseled Dan, “ or I'll start such a stampede that you'll trample each other to death. Better drop yo’ guns as a preventative.” Then after a moment of silence: “Better not try to start nothin’,” he - purred with deceptive gentleness.‘ I c’d kill twelve of you before I drop if you was to shoot me through the heart, an’ I ain’t | promisin’ which twelve it will be. An’then slam this whole caboodle of dynamite into ye. Better git out of my way before I lose patience.” Several men in the rear of the crowd left and there was a perceptible movement in the front ranks to get behind the other fel- low. Tucker had the reputation of having killed at least one man in each town in which he had ever lived. As a rule, one was sufficient. “Hey—there—drop that gun!” he roared, with a quick, convulsive movement toward Aif Riggs. ‘ You too!” he shouted to another. The crowd had dwindled from the rear to less than half of its original size, and others were leaving. Alf Riggs and his half-dozen masked confederates hated to admit defeat, but they knew that if any- thing was “started,” Tucker’s gun would pick them off first. If they could only con- fer together a minute in private—but all this had come so suddenly, so unexpectedly. Meanwhile, the sheriff, the chief and squads from the two forces were within GOOO[K (A)