Argosy, Vol. 123, No. 1 — page 88: what you’re looking at

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

18 laughter. His eyes were still dancing as he hailed an urchin strolling past. “Here, you!” he called. ‘“ You see that man and that girl down the street?” “« Si, senor.’ “Run after them. Take the man by the arm, yell at him that there’s a riot in his house. Understand? Here, take this quarter,’’ and Tyson’s money slipped into _ the grimy brown paw. ‘“ Hurry!” “Si, st,” stammered the boy, his eyes large with the vision of the silver coin, and he repeated: ‘‘ Senor Kennedy, a riot in your house! Much noise! Guns!” “Fine!” grinned Tyson. “ Now run for abe: _ The urchin was off down the street as if winged by the wind, and Tyson saw ‘his messenger catch Kennedy by the arm and shout something, gesturing wildly behind him. As for the gambler, he paused only long enough to thrust the package back into the hands of Rona Carnahan, and then turned and swung down the street with long strides. He passed Tyson with eyes grimly alight and lips compressed, and his right hand now and again touched at his hip pocket. ‘A gambler,” mused Tyson, fighting man!”’ He watched him out of sight around the corner, and then hurried after the girl. It was not easy to overtake her, for she walked with a light, swift stride, longer than a woman’s, and quicker than a man’s. As for Tyson, in the excitement of the mo- ment he was keen as a hound on a trail; in another moment he was at the side of the girl. | She cast an inquisitive glance up at him, and he regretted with a tremendous falling of the heart that he had purchased this in- terview at the price of his last meal. For the beauty which had been hers in the wil- derness was gone in the street of the town. A certain piquancy, and the largeness of the eyes, was that all? Knowledge dawned in her face; smiled up at him. “Senor Tyson!” : Assuredly it was more than piquancy and the somber eyes; he forgot the lost quarter. “and a she THE ARGOSY.. ‘““ The same Tyson,” he nodded. I'll carry the parcel.” His touch recognized the familiar curve of the neck of a bottle. She read his surprise. ‘‘ Fire-water,” she admitted. ‘“Do you use the stuff?’’ ‘Do you think there is a devil in me?” she asked angrily. ‘“ It is for my father.”’ “Father?” he said with a start. It was. difficult to connect the girl with parents. Then. he remembered, with a shudder, the man with the reddish eyes and the silent laugh like the grin of-a wolfhound. “‘ Then there is a devil in your father?” “Here, = Ob yes. A very thirsty one, Sefior Tyson.” ‘““ Padre Miguel told you that?” he asked dryly. “No, no, no, no! Once he saw ue give the fe alee to my father, and he made me say so many prayers—b-r-r—kneeling on a hard stone all the while—that my mind ached as hard as my knees before I was through. After that I was afraid to give -any more fire-water to father for a long time.”” ‘“ But at last?” “ At last—”’ She stopped short, for a youth, in pass- ing, laughed at the odd attire of Rona, and threw a word of ridicule after her in Span- ish. Her dress, to be sure, was enough to rouse laughter among a quieter people ~ than Mexicans. She wore a bright blue calico dress scattered with big white polka dots, and gathered at the waist with a crimson sash. The dress was cut off just below the knees, :and left the bare brown legs and sandaled feet free. Her head- dress was a man’s hat of soft, black felt, very wide-brimmed, and with a bright yel-. low feather thrusting up at one side. The spirit of the grotesque could not have been more fittingly arrayed. In the mean time the boy had halted in the street behind them, and now stood, call- ing out his mockery and clapping a riding quirt against his bare legs. “Listen!” gasped--Rona, and set her teeth in unspeakable rage. ‘“Come along,” advised Tyson. no attention to him.” MICLOOOK C©