The Argosy, Vol. 76, No. 3 — page 60: what you’re looking at

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

530 Crack! From somewhere in the swale came the bark of a firearm. A _ bullet snapped through the bushes. The golden echoes had hardly died into silence before they were taken up by another report. This came from farther up the swale, but the snarling lead struck at the same point that had drawn the first shot. Then again and again, from widely varying locations below, bullets were hurled at that one spot on the top of the bank. The girl’s face was white, and yet she seemed to have herself well in hand. “ There’s nothing else for it!” she whispered through tense lips, more to herself than to Bremerton; “‘ we must take to the blind gully—it’s our only chance.” She turned and once more began worming her way onward. At a dis- tance of fifty feet the ground broke abruptly into a sheer descent ahead of them. They looked into a narrow, steep-walled gully. Bremerton had seen that gully be- fore. On the opposite side Deane’s outlying holdings embraced the up- and-down wall, and the last monument of the Mariquita property was heaped at the wall’s base. “We've got to get down there, Mr. Bremerton!” declared the girl. “I can do it,” he answered; “ but you—”’ “TI can go wherever you can. Don’t let that worry you.” “They'll have us bottled up once we're in the gully. I know the place, and it’s a veritable cul-de-sac. We can get into it here, but we can’t get out. _Once we’re down there they can take their time picking us off.” “No,” and she spoke with an ef- fort, “I know something about this cul-de-sac that you don’t.” She began letting herself’ over the rim. “Wait,” he interposed. first and help you.” THE ARGOSY. “After being dragged by your horse as you were you may have all you can do to help yourself.” “T’m all over that,” he answered, and lowered himself to a protruding stone in the cliff’s face. ‘‘ Come after me closely,” he added. “I’m used to this rock-climbing.” Foot by foot they descended, a pro- jecting rock here, or a weather-worn seam in the wall there, affording them treacherous rounds.in the cliff ladder. The girl was clear-headed and steady, and at this Bremerton mar- veled. Surely he had known very little about her up to that moment. Time after time he reached upward to place the small foot in a place of comparative safety, and occasionally he lifted his voice in warning where the hand-holds were weak or the foot- holds crumbling. When they neared the foot of the wall lead once more began to fly. The marksmen kept themselves in hiding, drop-shooting from an angle that made their work more unnerving than dangerous. Bullets struck against granite and glanced, singing, into space. A few ranged upward and inward and one spent ball passed through Bremerton’s sleeve. : “Now where?” asked Bremerton, as he and the girl stood side by side at the foot of the wall. His voice was even, almost colorless. Mariquita’s strained glance rested on his face curiously. “You are a good deal of a man, Mr. Bremerton—in some things,” said she. “This is no time for foolisn talk,” he answered sharply. “Nor for foolish actions, perhaps, such as the one I am about to do. This way, and be quick.” She ran across the boulder-strewn bed of the gully and gained a screen of chaparral on the other side. He followed. The firing, strangely enough, had-slackened and the dash was entire- ly successful. COMicdoo S CO@