Nogales international., 1936-10-03
.!SLUMBERINC COLD
~ sa.. SS3z% 1z34l5reY RSYd>1 .ses.... % ::.

twas the pardner of the stranger
who rode the bay. I've figured his
trail. He's thought to be drowned,
off the George E. Starr. He calls
himself Speed Malone Since were
talkin' of right names. that man is
Buck Tracy, sometimes knowed as
Buck Solo-the most notorious des-
perado and gunman that ever come
out of the Northwest"
While his hearers stiffened under
the shock of the announcement he
flung at them, he wheeled on Rose
with a movement as swift as light.
"As for you, you b. p he
yelled --
Only one pair of eyes caught the
lightning gleam of the drawn gun.
There was stunning double report.
Fallon's gun went out of his hand
as if he had thrown it away. With
a blankly staring look he sagged in
crumpling fall, dropped by bull
let in the brain from gun which
Speed had jerked from the holster
of the bc1ated police guard.
1t seemed that his body was still
falling when Speed jumped the
courtroom floor and leaped for the
open window.
The fractional margin of another
instant or of one wild shot might
have carried him through. Then,
with the river before him and long
shore-line of wharves and docked
barges, there is no telling what the
Mounted Police might have had to
write on their fiawless man-getting
record.
But the odds were too steep. A
gun crashed as his boot touched the
sill, and Speed fell backward into
the courtroom.
For an instant the court stood
dazed in the swirling smoke.
The bar of the prisoners dock
broke in splinters; Maitland was
struggling in the hold of two police
guards, to reach his partner.
Yet even in that frozen moment
the wheel of Justice turned. Judge
Dugas looked down on the fallen
outlaw with a curious stiffness, and
then at Wade, whose response,
though no one heard it, was trans
lated to the police guards.
"Release the prisoner"
Half-lifting Speed out of a WIDEN
ing pool of blood, Maitland had a
blurred awareness of Pete on his
other side. The outlaw leaned
against their supporting arms,
deeply breathing the cool breeze
from snowy peaks that came
through the open window.
"A Doctor" Maitland tried to
say, but his heart strangled the
words in his throat, and tears rained
on his partners Redeemed shirt.
Speed looked up at him mistily
and shook his head. Il don't ask
for no better-run of luck than this,
Bud. Always figured Pd-fall in
some mountain pass alone = and
here" He paused at something
beyond his power to say. I'VE both
got what we looked for-and more
-on'y not where we was lookin'"
His eyes rested on the sun-burn-
ished gold of Pete's hair, and strayed
back to his partner with ghost
of his old-time ruminating smile.
Gold is where you find it, like
Steiner said"
The strength seemed to ebb from
him; he looked dimly at the waver-
ing pools of light and shadow on
the wall, and then in wonder at
bright glory of cloud floating across
the far azure glimpse that showed
through the window opening. 1t
was as if a mirage had crossed his
eyes in their last CLEAN of life.
But something of that same
tenacity of will which had held Dal-
ton against the cliff brought him
back for a moment, and Maitland
heard him say, as he drifted out on
that last trail, GIVE Rose hand,
Bud-she run a great bluff for We.
Tell her--I was plumb wrong
about women. Tell her-how much
i liked the singin'."
THE END