Bull Hunter

haste. Sheriff Anderson was a wreck rather than a fighting man. One arm was horribly crumpled beneath him; h

g his pulse, making sure that he, who would soon hang at the will of the

ig bundle of keys from a pocket. Then, without a word, he went back to the

ue shadows across the place now, and by the illumination, two of the men went to the wall and picked up the great oaken chair. They raised it slowly between them, a battered mass of disconnected wood

ad gone to find the cause of the commotion at the hotel. The steel bars, mor

smoking a cigarette. His only greeting to the big man was a lifting of the eyebrows. But, when the big key was fitted into t

our things?" sa

ings, bi

things-and your

brero off the wall. "Here's that hat," he answered, "but t

wered Bull, "so we'll get t

e bars, to look back to them with a shudder. It was the first sign of emotion he had shown si

Reeve, pointing to a door. "T

dle of keys into the g

he key to the closet," said Pete

little, raised his right leg, and smashed the heavy cowhide boot against the door. The wood split from top to bottom, and Bull's leg was driven on thro

emerged strapping a belt about him, the holster tugging far down, so that the muzzle of the gun was almost at his knee. Bu

s his eyes and poised himself, as if on tiptoe; his glance was a constant flicker about the room until it came to rest on Bull. "Supp

er. Now you got

t at the threshold of the jail. Plainly he was ready for fight or flight, and his right ha

ked the litt

seen. All the life of the town was drawn to a center about the hotel. Lights were flashing behind its windows, men were c

nded Pete Reeve

es in his life, together with its implications of free and equal brotherhood. To

Seems that Sheriff Anderson was the gent that done the killing of Armstrong.

that they was two of 'em! Well, the sheriff was a handy boy with his gun. Did he drop anybody b

"but them bullets didn'

Shot into

Into a

breaking into a trot to keep up with the immense s

was s

shot at a c

sailing through

f got rattled and shot at it instead of dodging? Well, I've seen a pile of f

d

ty form of Bull Hunter. "What na

ame. Mostly the

up the sheriff with a chair?" he sighed. "I wish I'd been

what yo

panion. Plainly he was bewildered, s

d out that the s

t himself,

nk,

e was asked if he d

ns! Who a

said Bull as

ad just put Bull down a

d to revise

t? You foller

ittle thinking.

"Maybe you hypnotize

. I got a lot of folks

e sheriff how he d

admitt

jumped f

reason did you have, son? I got to ask you that before I thank you the way I wan

business to do with you that couldn't be

where're

can do tha

the cottonwoods; the moonlight w

ound him. "I guess this'l

as mysterious as you want. N

ou," said

sure of the gun, became more easy. "That's interesting," he

e Bill Campbell," he explained. "It ain't that I got any grudge agin' you for that, but you see, Uncle Bill took me in young and give me

med Pete Reeve

uldn't only pay back Uncle Bill. It would make him think that I was a man. You see, Reeve, I ain't quick thinking, and I ain't bright. I ain't got a quick tongue and sharp eyes, and they been treating me like I was a ki

going nutty. But I figure that you come down here to kill me for the sake of getting your uncle to pat you on the back once or twice. And you find you can't get at me because I

day, but I ain't never seen one that I cotton to like I do to you. You've

ybe," said Bull calmly.

steady nerve, they ain't any man in the world that can sling a gun with me. And tonight

ny good compared to an expert like you.

hances ain't ta

I pull the gun, and if I get to you before I'm dead

llowed with difficulty. "But, in the name of reason, Bull, have

sort of breaks me down to hear you talk. Don't talk, but listen. The next

He would have had an ordinary man covered, long before the latter had his gun muzzle-clear of the leather. But Pete Reeve was no ordinary man. His arm jerked down; his fingers f

bullet where the life lay, at any instant of the fight. But he fired for another purpose. The moment Bull reached for his weapon he had lurched forward, aiming to shoot as he ran. Pete Reeve set himse

lashed through the great muscles. The revolver dropped from the nerveless hand of the giant, but Bull never paused. On he came, empty-handed, but with power of death, as the little man well knew, in the fingers of his extended left hand. He came

found one critical spot. Between the knee and the thigh, halfway up on the inside of the left leg, he drove that s

rth quaked beneath his feet as the big man fell. He swung his gun wide and leaned t

und left arm, and flung himself forward, two limbs dangling uselessly. With a hideously contorted face, Bull swung

eneath the bulk of a mountain. There was no question of sparing life now. Pete Reeve began to fight for life. He wrestled at his gun to tug it free, but found it anchored. He pulled the

his last effort; it was like striving to free himself from a ton's weight. Hysteria of fear and horror seized him, and his vo

e giant; the rasping, panting breathing paralyzed his senses. T

s heaved away from him, and staggering to his own feet, he saw Bull

y. "I couldn't noways seem to do it, Reeve. You see

und of an uncle of yours that you had the life of Pete Reeve under your fingertips and that you didn't take it. It's

e, Pete, unless ghosts walk; and I'll never tell Uncle Bill anythi

ain't hurt

of my head-like water-and the moon-is turning bl