'Firebrand' Trevison by Charles Alden Seltzer (ebook reader for manga .TXT) š
But Miss Benham had caught her first glimpse of Manti and the surrounding country from a window of her berth in the car that morning just at dawn, and she loved it. She had lain for some time cuddled up in her bed, watching the sun rise over the distant mountains, and the breath of the sage, sweeping into the half-opened window, had carried with it something stronger--the lure of a virgin country.
Aunt Agatha Benham, chaperon, forty--maiden lady from choice--various uncharitable persons hinted humorously of pursued eligibles--found Rosalind gazing ecstatically out of the berth window when she stirred and awoke shortly after nine. Agatha climbed out of her berth and sat on its edge, yawning sleepily.
"This is Manti, I suppose," she said acridly, shov
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āReady?ā he said.
āQuite.ā Trevison had not accepted Corriganās suggestion about taking off his ādamned foolish trappings,ā and he still wore themācartridge belt, leather chaps, spurs. But now he followed Corriganās lead and threw his hat from him. Then he crouched and faced Corrigan.
They circled cautiously, Trevisonās spurs jingling musically. Then Trevison went in swiftly, jabbing with his left, throwing off Corriganās vicious counter with the elbow, and ripping his right upward. The fist met Corriganās arm as the latter blocked, and the shock forced both men back a step. Corrigan grinned with malicious interest and crowded forward.
āThatās good,ā he said; āyouāre not a novice. I hope youāre not a quitter. Iāve quite a bit to hand you for riding me down.ā
Trevison grinned derisively, but made no answer. He knew he must save his wind for this man. Corrigan was strong, clever; his forearm, which had blocked Trevisonās uppercut, had seemed like a bar of steel.
Trevison went in again with the grim purpose of discovering just how strong his antagonist was. Corrigan evaded a stiff left jab intended for his chin, and his own right cross missed as Trevison ducked into a clinch. With arms locked they strained, legs braced, their lungs heaving as they wrestled, doggedly.
Corrigan stood like a post, not giving an inch. Vainly Trevison writhed, seeking a position which would betray a weakened muscle, but though he exerted every ounce of his own mighty strength Corrigan held him even. They broke at last, mutually, and Corrigan must have felt the leathery quality of Trevisonās muscles, for his face was set in serious lines. His eyes glittered malignantly as he caught a confident smile on Trevisonās lips, and he bored in silently, swinging both hands.
Trevison had been the cool boxer, carefully trying out his opponent. He had felt little emotion save that of self-protection. At the beginning of the fight he would have apologized to Corriganāwith reservations. Now he was stirred with the lust of battle. Corriganās malignance had struck a responsive passion in him, and the sodden impact of fist on flesh, the matching of strength against strength, the strain of iron muscles, the contact of their bodies, the sting and burn of blows, had aroused the latent savage in him. He was still cool, however, but it was the crafty coolness of the trained fighter, and as Corrigan crowded him he whipped in ripping blows that sent the big manās head back. Corrigan paid little heed to the blows; he shook them off, grunting. Blood was trickling thinly from his lips; he spat bestially over Trevisonās shoulder in a clinch, and tried to sweep the latter from his feet.
The agility of the cow-puncher saved him, and he went dancing out of harmās way, his spurs jingling. Corrigan was after him with a rush. A heavy blow caught Trevison on the right side of the neck just below the ear and sent him, tottering, against the wall of the building, from which he rebounded like a rubber ball, smothering Corrigan with an avalanche of deadening straight-arm punches that brought a glassy stare into Corriganās eyes. The big manās head wabbled, and Trevison crowded in, intent on ending the fight quickly, but Corrigan covered instinctively, and when Trevison in his eagerness missed a blow, the big man clinched with him and hung on doggedly until his befoggled brain could clear. For a few minutes they rocked around the room, their heels thudding on the bare boards of the floor, creating sounds that filtered through the enclosing walls and smote the silence of the outside world with resonant rumblings. Mercilessly, Trevison hammered at the heavy head that sought a haven on his shoulder. Corrigan had been stunned and wanted no more long range work. He tried to lock his big arms around the otherās waist in an attempt to wrestle, realizing that in that sort of a contest lay his only hope of victory, but Trevison, agile, alert to his danger, slipped elusively from the grasping hands and thudded uppercuts to the otherās mouth and jaws that landed with sickening force. But none of the blows landed on a vital spot, and Corrigan hung grimly on.
At last, lashing viciously, wriggling, squirming, swinging around in a wide circle to get out of Corriganās clutches, Trevison broke the clinch and stood off, breathing heavily, summoning his reserve strength for a finishing blow. Corrigan had been fearfully punished during the last few minutes, but he was gradually recovering from his dizziness, and he grinned hideously at Trevison through his smashed lips. He surged forward, reminding Trevison of a wounded bear, but Trevison retreated warily as he measured the distance from which he would drive the blow that would end it
He was still retreating, describing a wide circle. He swung around toward the door through which Braman had goneāhis back was toward it. He did not see the door open slightly as he passed; he had not seen Bramanās face in the slight crevice that had been between door and jamb all along. Nor did he see the banker jab at his legs with the handle of a broom. But he felt the handle hit his legs. It tripped him, forcing him to lose his balance. As he fell he saw Corriganās eyes brighten, and he twisted sideways to escape a heavy blow that Corrigan aimed at him. He only partially evaded itāit struck him glancingly, a little to the left of the chin, stunning him, and he fell awkwardly, his left arm doubling under him. The agonizing pain that shot through the arm as he crumpled to the floor told him that it had been broken at the wrist. A queer stupor came upon him, during which he neither felt nor saw. Dimly, he sensed that Corrigan was striking at him; with a sort of vague half-consciousness he felt that the blows were landing. But they did not hurt, and he laughed at Corriganās futile efforts. The only feeling he had was a blind rage against Braman, for he was certain that it had been the banker who had tripped him. Then he saw the broom on the floor and the crevice in the doorway. He got to his feet some way, Corrigan hanging to him, raining blows upon him, and he laughed aloud as, his vision clearing a little, he saw Corriganās mouth, weak, open, drooling blood, and remembered that when Braman had tripped him Corrigan had hardly been in shape to do much effective hitting. He tottered away from Corrigan, taunting him, though afterwards he could not remember what his words were. Also, he heard Corrigan cursing him, though he could never remember his words, either. He tried to swing his left arm as Corrigan came within range of it, but found he could not lift it, and so ducked the savage blow that Corrigan aimed at him and slipped sideways, bringing his right into play. Several times as they circled he uppercut Corrigan with the right, he retreating, side-stepping; Corrigan following him doggedly, slashing venomously at him, hitting him occasionally. Corrigan could not hurt him, and he could not resist laughing at Corriganās faceāit was so hideously repulsive.
A man came out of the front door of Hanrahanās saloon across the street from the bank building, and stood in the street for a moment, looking about him. Had Miss Benham seen the man she would have recognized him as the one who had previously come out of the saloon to greet the rider with: āWell, if it aināt olā āBrandā!ā He saw the black horse standing in front of the bank building, but Trevison was nowhere in sight. The man mumbled: āI donāt want him to git away without me seeinā him,ā and crossed the street to the bank window and peered inside. He saw Braman peering through a half-open door at the rear of the banking room, and he heard soundsāqueer, jarring sounds that made the glass window in front of him rattle and quiver.
He dove around to the side of the building and looked in a window. He stood for a moment, watching with bulging eyes, half drew a pistol, thought better of the notion and replaced it, and then darted back to the saloon from which he had emerged, croaking hoarsely: āFight! fight!ā
Trevison had not had the agility to evade one of Corriganās heavy blows. It had caught him as he had tried to duck, striking fairly on the point of the jaw, and he was badly dazed. But he still grinned mockingly at his enemy as the latter followed him, tensed, eager, snarling. He evaded other blows that would have finished himāthrough instinct, it seemed to Corrigan; and though there was little strength left in him he kept working his right fist through Corriganās guard and into his face, pecking away at it until it seemed to be cut to ribbons.
Voices came from somewhere in the banking room, voices raised in altercation. Neither of the two men, raging around the rear room, heard themāthey had become insensate savages oblivious of their surroundings, drunken with passion, with the blood-mania gripping their brains.
Trevison had brought the last ounce of his remaining strength into play and had landed a crushing blow on Corriganās chin. The big man was wabbling crazily about in the general direction of Trevison, swinging his arms wildly, Trevison evading him, snapping home blows that landed smackingly without doing much damage. They served merely to keep Corrigan in the semi-comatose state in which Trevisonās last hard blow had left him. And that last blow had sapped Trevisonās strength; his spirit alone had survived the drunken orgy of rage and hatred. As the tumult around him increasedāthe tramp of many feet, scuffling; harsh, discordant voices, curses, yells of protest, threatsānot a sound of which he heard, so intent was he with his work of battering his adversary, he ceased to retreat from Corrigan, and as the latter shuffled toward him he stiffened and drove his right fist into the big manās face. Corrigan cursed and grunted, but lunged forward again. They swung at the same instantāTrevisonās right just grazing Corriganās jaw; Corriganās blow, full and sweeping, thudding against Trevisonās left ear. Trevisonās head rolled, his chin sagged to his chest, and his knees doubled like hinges. Corrigan smirked malevolently and drove forward again. But he was too eager, and his blows missed the reeling target that, with arms hanging wearily at his sides, still instinctively kept to his feet, the taunting smile, now becoming bitterly contemptuous, still on his face. It meant that though exhausted, his arm broken, he felt only scorn for Corriganās prowess as a fighter.
Fighting off the weariness he lunged forward again, swinging the now deadened right arm at the blur Corrigan made in front of him. Something collided with himāa human formāand thinking it was Corrigan, clinching with him, he grasped it. The momentum of the object, and his own weakness, carried him back and down, and with the object in his grasp he fell, underneath, to the floor. He saw a face close to hisāBramanāsāand remembering that the banker had tripped him, he began to work his right fist into the otherās face.
He would have finished Braman. He did not know that the man who had greeted him as āolā āBrandāā had smashed the banker in the forehead with the butt of a pistol when the banker had tried to bar his progress at the doorway; he was not aware that the force of the blow had hurled Braman against him, and that the latter, half unconscious, was not defending himself. He would not have cared had he known these things, for he was fighting blindly, doggedly, recklesslyāfighting two men, he thought. And though he sensed that there
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