Nogales international., 1936-08-01

WIldI NlCdAC Cl l1SllL VI IAIS NSAA, OPH
understood why he had been trying
to place the football in his memory.
The man who confronted him was
Frenchy, carrying a plate and curv-i
ing his chest to bring deputy s.
badge into more formidable promi-
nenCe.
Speed bit his cheek as he glanced
over the contents of the plate with
out accepting it.
"Well, you're nice one, Frenchy,"
he commented mildly. so they give
you a deputy's star. Looks good
on ye, too"
The ex-fsherman squirmed back
little, not quite able to keep firm
front with that even voice in his
ears.
"You don't forget, neither, do you,
Frencfy?" his prisoner acknow
lodged, eyeing the fish, and then
the knife in his belt, on which his
free hand had closed. care you
the marshal's official sticker?"
Narrow black eyes beaded with a
ranking heat which only blood
could quench, as the cool gray ones
of his defenseless prisoner lifted to
his face.
The pause grated on the impatient
guard at the door. eff that's the
best you can do, frog, back out here
with them plates before he takes
your knife and carves ye."
Reckon this feller don't know
who he's calm, Frenchy," Speed
observed, as the fisherman backed
an involuntary step or two. Tell
him what you done to Horse Nc
Ginnis of Spokane. Tell him you
could lick ten half-baked deputies
like him with one foot"
An oath from the guard showed
that Frenchy's elevation to office
was not popular with the marshaps S
squad He swung the door, and
hooked the fisherman with a boot
toe to speed his exit. In that finely
| measured instant, Speed jumped for
the door.
Speed reached the corridor in a
bound. A gun blazed out of the dark
tangle but he was already clear of
the passagew.ay and gone; !.
The canvas between the frame
and the rafters was dark. Unfortu-
nately or otherwise, Steiner was out.
He cut a slit in the canvas, and
climbing through the apeture,
dropped inside.
Though the tent had looked dark
|, from outside, its interior was vague
ly illumined by filtered waverlnG
flow from the kerosene fare in thu
! street it faced on. Rummaging an
. covered a crowbar of handy size. Ii
drawer he found collection o
, sx-shooters, which said little fol
Steiner's judgment of firearms, bu
he quickly picked out AS, loadee
it from his own belt and put it IL
. the holster.
Still the object of his search
eluded him. He was beginning tc
think that the Jew had done some
empty boaSting when his eye fell or
a longish box in the far corner
under a shelf He pulled it out, anc
delicately prying it open with The
bar, put his fingers inside. With {
grunt of relief, he removed the
cover and took out two sticks o.
dynamite.
AS he dropped in the snow anc
paused to listen, his skin pricklec
with sense of some lurking pres
ence close by, soundless and un
seen. He started swiftly back along
his previous trail through the tents
without touching the gun at his belt
Speed crouched forward tensely
gripping the bar, as dark shape
brushed along the tent wall within
a ward of him. In that instant of it!
disclosure, his hand lunged out anc
clutched a man by the throat. HI
raised the pinch bar.
"D-d-don't hit me-" he protested
in a hoarse whimper. "I's f-f-for ye
s-seen you prowl into the Jew;
t-t-tent to get the d-dyamite
ID-d-don't try it! What'd the m-mar.
shal take of y-yourn?"
"My guns and jack-they dom
matter. The packet of mail I've
got to get"
Lefty caught his arm. "L-leave
me case this trick" he whispered
husky. "You wouldn't have chance
in a m-m-million with dynamite. |
seen that safe't once when the mar
shall pinched me, and with a few
minutes, l could f'feel the c'combln-
alton. 1t used to be my racket"
"What's in it for you"
II owe you a hand, and the
m-marshal a bad turn. G-give me
the bar" whispered Lefty. "You
wait here"
"How-wait here"
"W-watch for the mob. Whistle
if they get too close. But give me
all the thine you can"
Speed yielded the bar. Lying in
the drift, his gun covered the only
door to the jail, SO the chance of
Lcftys playing him double was
slight. Long minutes dragged be-
fore a distant trampling began to
pound on his eardrums. A shore
party had been combing the beach:
The empty boats at moorlng and
the ship in the gulf would naturally
suggest that way of escape. AS he
sprang erect, his sharp whistle
pierced the dusk.
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