Page 24 - Adventure Magazine, 1921, July 18th

18 Adventure

THE man vdth the star saw the The sheriff turn ed to the Frisco Kid
bov turn. He sen ed the subcon- without any trace of discomfiture at having
sciou, proce . He grinned appreci- his su piciou theories gainsaid.
atively through drooping-tai led mustaches. "Yo u heard,_ kid? Well, those are your
" o y u don't!,, he barke d. "No use or~er~. Beal 1t back south. Upper Illi-
trying to beat it, bo. I ve got you dead to nois 1s dangerous for your kind. It' s the
right ; and beside the roads are all pa- back track for you, boy. Now drill
trolled up yonder where you were heading." along."
He rai ed the nub-no ed automatic. Slumped into the typical hobo slouch the
The Fri co Kid froze in his tracks, stand - Frisco Kid retra ced his steps. The' two
ing stiffiy upright and paralytically still. sack-cowled ones watch ed him through the
He watched the sheriff and the deput y misty curtain s of rain until he was far
saunter up with eyes that were alone alive down the road.
in a blanched bruised face-eyes that were Then the Kid reached a point where an-
shifty and wary a a frightened animal 's. other road swung in. He turned promptly
"A hobo kid!" ejaculated the sheriff, on his heel and pursued this other fork north
turning to his deputy in surprize. "Why, I again. From the moment he had received
thought it was some litt le runt of an old- his orders he had had no intention of
timer tryi ng to run out on me." _ keeping south. He had a job to do and a
His eyes came back to the boy and he certain time limit in which to do it.
reached over and, with the snub-nosed He had lost perhaps three good hours by
barrel of the automat ic, lifted aside the meeting with the Johnny Tinplate. It was
flap of one coat. now coming on evening and a dull wintry
"Traveling rathe r heavy, aren't you, dusk. The black, empty rolling fields
kid?" he asked with sudden · suspicion. continued on either hand, and the road
"No( th inking of meeting up with any one was of a fellowship in dreariness with the
along the road , are you, and swapping a first he had walked.
suit ?" The rolled-up bottoms of the double
The re was swift guilt in the boy's deep thickness of trousers magged mud at his
sunk eyes. But he answ,ered stoutly: heels with every step. The two coats,
"Naw; this is me Winter outfit. I ain't heavy with soaking, slapped their moist
changed yet ; not till I git south." tails against his knees, and wearied and
"Well, tha t's the way you're going to smarted his shoulders, raw from the lashing
head ," returned the sheriff significantly. of the previous night.
He looked round at ·his countrified The dog dragged wearily behind him as
deputy. if at the end of- an invisible thong. All
"What do you think of him, Josh? about, the vague curtains of rain draped the
Shall we turn him back the way he came, or world, and dimmed and toned everything
slap him as a suspicious character in the to a chill, dreary gray.
Middletown hoosegow for safe-k.eeping? A dog commenced barking ringingly on
You see, he's wearing two suits, and ~e's a remote rise of hill. The sharp clamor,
heading north. That looks queer to me. breathing from afar over black, empty
Say, I have a great mind to vag him. fields, was as the voice of inhospitality,
Maybe he's not so innocent as he seems at speaking of dog-guarded kitchen doors.
first look." The Gav-Cat halted in hi tracks and gave
The deputy shook his gunny-sack-hooded bacl{ instant defianc .
head vigorously. "Ssh!" warned th Kid, truck with
. '
"Aw, wot cf he has two suits, sheriff! swift fear. "Doyer wanter tart some tl 1111 ,
It's cold enough, I'm here to tell yuh. Gay-Cat? That old Johnny Tinplate said
Walkin' in the rain, he sorter needs two as how he had m n with dog an' gun all
suits anyway s. Besides, he can't git fu'ther along these road_. BeUer put the muffi r
no'th than Middl etown, account of all them on, old-timer.''
riti7.,cns guardin' the road ·. Jest bundle nswcr d from the ri e of hill n. whol
him ha k the way he cam . He' only a chorus of harJ1 and cha llenginCT do ' ice.
kid, Sheriff Kummer, an, can't be put up to There were ommjngl d the hrill ) lpin
no power of harm. Jest head him so'th, of terrier-· and th hoars bayu11'1 of l m
says 1." sort of h und. omb rl • th h