i
\
3
X
v
<r
'.H
i.
sf »
} v
t * tT J .. • I
Th« sleepy town,Cfunumokc woke
'teadache this particular morning, and
cayae was none other ithapi Luke Patton,
sras the town boas, his men were the
and his saloon took all- the money from
* ''l
\
J h
szn
t a.-I
alone. Por all his ruthless killing*. Jimnqr was sorry
he had ever been mixed up in them, but it was a caae
of either shooting first or being shot He had always kept
a weather eye on the town of Gunsmoke just in case any-
—— —— ■»— »—»» mM* j mammmmj ■> w ^hmg ever happened to Mary or his father, hfot twenty
miners, ranchers and other men that happened to drift I Bto hours had passed since the hanging of his father, and Jimmy
11 ' * ' 9 was well on the way to Gunsmoke. If the town had a
from a hanging, it was really due fag* a relapse
the small but very wild town. The night before,
had decided to take over the town'; hank, legal-like of
and in staying within the law had framed a murder
on old Silas Tripp. The trial wee as big a farce as liike
himself, but he had the power and that meant Silas we in’t
given a chance. During the trial Luke plied moot of phe
town with “rotgut” and by the time the trial w
if it could be called such—the men were so drunk
was ell right with them. The gut and frayed end
thrown, over e low-hanging limb 4ea mute evidence) of
Silas* fate. ) *
tfery Tripp sat by the body of her father and so; tly
cried She was a pretty girl, with soft yellow hair and
large blue eyes. Silas and Mary had lived alone for
twelve years, ever since her brotner had turned bad
and left home. Since that time nothing had been hepni t om
him, so both of them had supposed he was dead.
Just across the border in a small Mexican tow
Tripp had hidden himself from the world The only ____
that knew him called him “EL Diablo."' His gugslinjing
ranked with the best and his «Amingm*ss cams from tw< Ivc
years of hard living. Living for an existence. B Dia bio
been chased by the best police of the MexiSan § ov<
it and also by the smartest Mar*hal’s the U. S. ct uid
They were stumped, mostly because no one
about him except that he had red hair
• • * • •
10
\
hair
you
doors of the Golden Eagle saloon—Luke’s
opea and the rangiest cow poke ever
his head inside, then walked in. His first
in the room, the bunch at the far table and
at the bar. He headed for the bar, his red
like Uncut wheat.
iatrai irer," said the barkeep. “Ain’t ever seen
where ya bail from?”
"I m from Mexico and I ain’t ever been in these parts
before; now is there anything else ya’d like to know?”
“Nothin’ ’oept what'll ya have?” “Give me straight rye.
By the way. can jm tell me where I can find Luke Patton?"
The boys at the faro table shoved their chairs back and
fingered th ebutta of their six-guns. “Just what would
yh be wantin’ with Luke ?V| Maybe one of the boys over there
can hglp you.” "That’s my businaas.” snapped the red-
| < y > y» pertpar, maybe you didn’t hear me say where
I was from, Mexico now does that mean anything?” Three
of the men at the Ur jumped for the door; or* got his legs
v } • l ' ' X J '
v, THE BATTALION
• • I
T. . ,
1