When they blowed in that night at seven o"clock, I seen the Kid looks kinda worried, while he"s washin" the Golden West off his face and neck, so I ask him how Arthur is comin" along. Scanlan coughs a couple of times and then he says he don"t know, because he wasn"t able to get over there that afternoon--the first he"d missed since I promised the world"s champion girl I"d a.s.sist her. While I"m still bawlin" him out, he claims it wasn"t his fault, because the car broke down in the middle of California and they had to get towed back.
I _will_ say I was sorry to find out that Miss Vincent wasn"t above a little rough stuff! Oh, you ladies!
The next day Genaro suddenly decides to take a scene in the Kid"s movie, and as we was under contract we had to stay. The third afternoon, Miss Vincent gets a terrible headache and the Kid has to sit on the hotel porch with her, readin" out loud her press notices from the movie magazines.
I kept out of it, but thinkin" about Arthur and that little nurse over there had me bitin" nails, and the next day I told the Kid if he didn"t go out and trade wallops with Arthur, I was through as his pilot. I said that right out loud in front of Miss Vincent, lookin" her right in them famous baby-blue eyes of hers. But you can"t figure women--she crossed me and tells the Kid to go and she"d go with him!
We went out in her racin" car, with me ridin" on the runnin" board and thinkin" what a fine thing accident insurance was for a guy of moderate means. By dumb luck we missed crashin" into the scenery along the road and stopped outside the iron gates of the sanitarium. We had hardly got in the office, when from down the hall we heard what sounded like a race riot, and a couple of orderlies goes past us so fast that I didn"t believe it could be done, although I seen "em. The Kid runs down to where the noise was comin" from and I tagged along in the rear, stoppin" with him outside a big two-doored room, where from the sounds that crashed out from inside they was puttin" on a dress rehearsal of a race riot.
While we stood there lookin" at each other, a familiar deep snarlin"
voice roars out over the others--they was a scream, too, that made me neck and neck with the Kid as we busted in the locked doors and went sprawlin" inside.
Oh, boy!
A half dozen nurses and two or three doctors is lined up against the wall on the far side, crouchin" back of an operatic table and tryin" to force their bodies through the hard cement. The place looks like a cyclone had hit it, with the walls sc.r.a.ped and scarred and the floor covered with plaster and what not like the show-room of a junk shop.
Half on the floor and half on a chair is Miss Woods. I hoped she had only fainted.
In the middle of the room and backin" against the doors is a big, growlin", red-eyed killer that used to be Arthur.
Most of his clothes is torn off where some of them poor little human bein"s had tried to hold him, and over his head he"s swingin" a iron pole he"d torn from the fancy front gate outside. Each time he swings, he comes nearer that bunch with nothin" between them and Heaven but a white enameled table. He didn"t seem to notice Scanlan, who slid almost to his feet, and rightin" himself like a cat, stepped back to size the thing up. Then with a growl, Arthur chops at the operatin"
table with the pole and crumbles it like a berry box. The women screamed--I think one of "em fainted. The doctors spread in front of them, as Arthur raised the pole to finish the job.
And then Scanlan, poppin" up from somewheres, jumps in front of Arthur, his face the color of that busted table, but his body as steady as the Rockies, as he plants himself there before the big guy, swingin" his head back easily before that tremblin" iron pole. The Kid throws his hands up in a fightin" position and dances from one foot to the other lookin" for a openin", like a guy with a pail of water tryin" to put out h.e.l.l! Arthur hesitates, starin" wildly at the Kid, and then his face begins to change till it"s almost human. He looks like he"s tryin" to think.
"Come on!" bawls Scanlan--loud, to keep the crack out of his voice.
"Come on!" He dances around Arthur and makes a pa.s.s at him. "I got some new ones to show you to-day!" he yells. "Hurry up, or we--won"t--have--time--to--mix it!"
I remember the head doc told me afterwards it was because the big feller had been doin" that every day--boxin" with the Kid--for so long that it--
But what"s that matter now? Arthur dropped that iron pole, put up his hands, grins like a baby and rocks the Kid with a straight left, while them nurses and doctors tumbled out of the room thankin" their different G.o.ds. Somebody carried out Miss Woods, too.
I guess Scanlan never battled before like he did in the next ten minutes, because he was fightin" for the biggest purse he ever climbed in a ring for--his life! The big guy smashed him all over the place tryin" for a knockout like the Kid had taught him, crushin" his ribs in the clinches till Scanlan"s breathin" cut me to the heart and rainin"
wallops on him like a machine gun. Me? Oh, I didn"t do much but root for the Kid. Y"see I was beside that operatic table when Arthur lammed it with the pole--some of it kinda glanced off and I stopped it with my head. A game little bantam of a doctor hopped around "em, as they slewed over the floor, lookin" like a referee--but he was simply tryin"
to slip friend Arthur a hypodermic while Scanlan kept him busy.
Finally, the Kid staggers Arthur with a lucky right smash to the chin, and then a half a dozen left and rights to the body cut his size down to where the Kid could put all he had left in one swing--and it"s all over. The little doc with the hypo gets busy, and, when we left the room, Arthur was headed for the operatin" pen--his trip havin" been interrupted by the slight excitement Scanlan had stopped!
Well, me and the Kid was hustled upstairs to be fussed over, windin"
up, you might say, where we started, in the hospital. After a time Miss Woods comes up and thanks us--at least she made a stab at it and weeps. The operation had been a success, and when Arthur could walk he was gonna reward Miss Woods for her lovin" care by marryin" her, and she looked like she thought that was enough--ain"t women a scream?
We was talkin" to the doctor, when Miss Vincent come in--stands in the doorway for a minute lookin" like a swell picture in a punk frame, and comes to the Kid with a yours-for-keeps look in her eyes. Scanlan throws up his head like he"s just thought of somethin".
"Say!" he pipes through the bandages. "I know what that psychological moment thing is now--the doc has just been tellin" me. It seems," he says with a grin. "It seems I pulled one off here this afternoon!"
THE END
CHARLES ALDEN SELTZER"S WESTERN NOVELS
May be had wherever books are sold. Ask for Grosset and Dunlap"s list.
THE WAY OF THE BUFFALO
Jim Cameron builds a railroad adjacent to Ballantine"s property, even though Ballantine threatens to kill him the day he runs it.
BRa.s.s COMMANDMENTS
Stephen Lannon writes six commandments over six loaded cartridges set out where the evil men who threaten him and the girl he loves, may see them.
WEST!
When Josephine Hamilton went West to visit Betty, she met "Satan"
Lattimer, ruthless, handsome, fascinating, who taught her some things.
SQUARE DEAL SANDERSON
Square Deal Sanderson rode onto the Double A just as an innocent man was about to be hanged and Mary Bransford was in danger of losing her property.
"BEAU" RAND
Bristling with quick, decisive action, and absorbing in its love theme, "Beau" Rand, mirrors the West of the hold-up days in remarkable fashion.
THE BOSS OF THE LAZY Y
Calumet Marston, daredevil, returns to his father"s ranch to find it is being run by a young woman who remains in charge until he accepts sundry conditions.
"DRAG" HARLAN
Harlan establishes himself as the protector of Barbara Morgan and deals out punishment to the girl"s enemies through the lightning flash of drawn guns.
THE TRAIL HORDE
How Kane Lawler fought the powerful interests that were trying to crush him and Ruth Hamlin, the woman he loved, makes intensely interesting reading.
THE RANCHMAN
The story of a two-fisted product of the west, pitted against a rascally spoilsman, who sought to get control of Marion Harlan and her ranch.
"FIREBRAND" TREVISON
The encroachment of the railroad brought Rosalind Benham--and also results in a clash between Corrigan and "Firebrand" that ends when the better man wins.