Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: May 17, 2025
A brown bear peered at them from a thicket and went crashing away with an awkward gait that carried it over the ground fast. From a summit they saw before them a thin spiral of smoke rising out of an arroyo. "I reckon that's the end of the trail," Dud drawled. "We're real pleased to meet up with you, Mr. Houck. Last time I had the pleasure was a sorta special picnic in yore honor.
He was in the country of the enemy, so to say. "Am I pesterin' her?" he demanded. "Can't I talk to a girl I knew when she was a baby? Have I got to get an O.K. from you before I say 'Good-mawnin' to her?" "Her father left June in my charge. I'm intendin' to see you let her alone. Get that straight." Houck gave up with a shrug of his big shoulders. He sat down and attacked the steak on his plate.
"Here's where you 'n' me have a settlement," the Brown's Park man announced. "I'm not lookin' for trouble," Bob said, and again he was aware of a heavy sinking at the stomach. "You never are," jeered Houck. "But it's right here waitin' for you, Mr. Rabbit Heart." Bob heard the voices of children coming down the road on their way from school.
Reluctantly it yielded to the steady pull on its neck. Man and beast began to move back up the hill. As soon as he was a safe distance from the camp, Houck meant to make of the rope a bridle. In the pre-dawn darkness he could see little and that only as vague outlines rather than definite shapes. But some instinct warned the hunted man that this was no round-up camp.
Whenever you're ready, gents." From the door Mrs. Gillespie spoke. "What's all this?" She became at once the center of attention. The punchers grouped around Houck were taken by surprise. They were disconcerted by this unexpected addition to the party. For though Mrs. Gillespie led an irregular life, no woman on the river was so widely loved as she. The mother of Bear Cat, the boys called her.
Don't I know how it was? That Jake Houck was to blame. He led you into it an' left you to bear the blame," she crooned. "It ain't me. It's you I'm thinkin' of, honey. I done ruined yore life, looks like. I shut you off from meeting decent folks like other girls do. You ain't had no show." "Don't you worry about me, Dad. I'll be all right.
It backed into a small piñon, snapping dry branches with its weight. Houck cursed softly. He did not want to arouse anybody in the camp or to call the attention of the night jinglers to his presence. He tried to lead the pinto away, but it balked and dug its forefeet into the ground, leaning back on the rope. The outlaw murmured encouragement to the horse.
But June was all his life now held. He suffered because of the loneliness their circumstances forced upon her. The best was what he craved for her. And Jake Houck was a long way from the best. He had followed rough and evil trails all his life. As a boy, in his cowpuncher days, he had been hard and callous. Time had not improved him. June came to the door of the cabin and called.
These posses not only rode up and down the river. They scoured the mesa on the other bank all day. When night fell Houck was still at large. The drama of the hold-up and of the retribution that had fallen upon the bandits had moved as swiftly as though it had been rehearsed. There had been no wasted words, no delay in the action. But in life the curtain does not always drop at the right moment.
Don't you come nearer, Jake Houck! Don't you! If you do I'll I'll " Dr. Tuckerman put his hand gently on her shoulder. "It's all right, June. Here's your father. We won't let Houck near you. Better lie down now and rest." "Why must I lie down?" she asked belligerently. "Who are you anyhow, mister?" "I'm the doctor. You're not quite well. We're looking after you." Tolliver came forward timorously.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking