Evening star., 1941-05-18
WOMAN HUNT
THIS WEEK MAGAZINE
Confinved from poge eighteen


the killers cold eyes of him and the
cruelness in the tight, fiat mouth, he
didn't seem to have the sense to be
afraid Instead of backing away as
Folder swung down from the saddle
and came toward him, he went ahead.
you get out of this, Les" 1t didn't
sound to Matt like his own voice.
There was gritty rasp in it, like dog
growing. go on. Get moving while
you're able to-
Folders eyes opened wide for sec
ond. Then they narrowed down to
Sits again, and Polder laughed.
"Where'd you get all the spunk from,
stump-wrassler? Catch it off herr"
His eyes flickered toward Kathy,
and there was something in the look
that made Matt almost sorry for him.
This put him off his guard. so that
there was barely time enough for the
sideways jump that carried him out
of the way of Folders sudden, darting
rush, with head waist high, bent dou-
BILE for butt. Kathy'd been right.
the back of MATHS brain thought; a
snake would have struck this same
way: low, ightning-quick, head first.
He caught his balance just in time
to ward off the two forked fingers that
stabbed straight at his eyes: some in
stinct twisted him to take the wicked
upward knee-kick on his hip instead
of in the belly.
He was too slow, though. to fend off
the arms that clamped around his
middle and frightened in on the spring
of his ribs. Snakes fought this way,
too, coiling around you, squeezing the
breath out of you. The thought added
a kind of sick disgust to his strength.
so that instead of bending backwards
he could bend the other way; the heel
that was hooked inside of his, trying
to trip him, tripped Polder instead.
They went down together, with Pol
der underneath.
The fall broke Folders grip. and
= Matt could get his breath all the way
down into him again. He gave himself
time to do it, and that was time
enough for Folders hand to find a
loose rock and come lashing up with
it, Matt saw it coming, but he didn't
feel it hit him. 1t only seemed to make
things happen slowly and in kind of
fog.
He felt himself going down, taking
a long time about it, like felled tree.
Folder seemed to take another long.
long time to squirm out from under
him and over on top of him. There
was hand on Mats throat, holding
him down, and another one, with a
jagged rock in it, going up - going
up so slowly that there was time for
Matt to wonder if he'd feel it when it
came down. to wonder at himself for
not seeming to mind being killed. for
worrying, instead, about kathy, and
being sorry and ashamed because he'd
botched the job of sticking up for her.
AND then, through the fog, straining
his eyes sideways, he saw her.
His rifle had been leaning against
the gully wall. 1t wasn't there any
more. Kathy was pointing the long
barrel of it, level and steady. straight
at Folder. Matt saw the hammer lift
and heard the lock click, and suddenly
there was hope in him, and hot,
fierce hunger for life. And the hunger
stayed alive in him, and the hope,
even after he saw Kathy shut both
her eyes to pull the trigger and knew
that she was going to miss.
He heard himself laughing at the
womanishness of it. There wasn't
anything to stop him from laughing,
now, no hand on his throat, no weight
crushing down on his ribs. The piece
of a second it had taken Folder to
dodge and duck as the gun went off
had been plenty long enough. 1t was
Matt who was on top, now, knee on
each of Folders arms, both thumbs
on Folders windpipe. They eased up