Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 25, 2025
"But yuh needn't raise the long howl if " "Hold on, boys; my ante's on the table," came guardedly from Weary's bunk, and there was a soft, shuffling sound as of moving blankets; the subdued scrape of boots pulled from under bunks, and the quiet searching for hats and gloves.
When he had eaten, hungrily and in silence, responding to the mildly ironical sociability of his fellows with a brevity which only his soft voice saved from bruskness, he unrolled his new bed and lay down with not a thought for the part he was playing. He heard with absolute indifference Weary's remark outside, that "Cadwolloper's about all in; day-herding's too strenuous for him."
With the Kid riding gleefully upon Weary's shoulder they trooped up the path their own feet had helped wear deep to the bunk-house. They looked in at the open door and snorted at the cheerlessness of the place. "Why don't you come back here and stay?" the Kid demanded. "I was going to sleep down here with you and now Doctor Dell won't let me. These hobees are no good. They're damn' bone-head.
"Well Weary's mad enough now to do things that will leave a dent, anyway," Andy commented under his breath when, from the corral gate, he got a good look at Weary's profile, which showed the set of his mouth and chin. "See that mouth? It's hunt the top rail, and do it quick, when old Weary straightens out his lips like that."
If the Old Man was here, or Chip, I'd feel a whole lot easier in my mind." "They couldn't do anything you can't do," Pink assured him loyally, forgetting his petulance when he saw the careworn look in Weary's face. "All they can do is gobble all the range around here and I guess there's a few of us that will have a word or two to say about that."
But Weary's jaw was set, as was his heart, upon a thorough cleaning of that particular bit of range; and, since he did not definitely request any man to turn back, and every fellow there was minded to see the thing to a finish, they straggled out behind the trailing two thousand and never had one bunch of sheep so efficient a convoy. After the first few miles the way grew rough.
At first he did not mind it so much, but after ten minutes of riding so, the thing grew monotonously painful and disquieting to the nerves. Five miles from the town he sighted the pinto; it was just disappearing up a coulee which led nowhere much less to camp. Weary's self-congratulatory mood changed to impatience; he followed after.
"He don't act, to me, like he was putting up a josh," Weary stated uneasily, after a minute of silence. "Run up to the house and find out, Cadwalloper. The Old Man oh, good Lord!" The tan on Weary's face took a lighter tinge. "Scoot it won't take but a minute to find out for sure. Go on, Pink."
Weary's horse stumbled and went to his knees, so that Happy Jack forged ahead just when the wind, puffing up from the open, blew aside the gray fog-wall. It was not a minute, nor half that; but it was long enough for Happy Jack to see, clear and close, Blink pausing irresolutely upon the edge of a deep, brush-filled gulley.
Yielding to Pink's persuasions, he changed mounts, clasped Pink's hand affectionately, and sped away just as the posse appeared over a rise, riding furiously. Pink, playing his part, started toward them, then wheeled and sped away in the direction that would lead them off Weary's trail. That is, he sped for ten rods or so.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking