Fire And Firecrackers
: Dave Porter In The Gold Fields"What's that!"
"The garage on fire!"
"Say, look at the blaze!"
Such were some of the cries, as the boys tumbled out of bed, one after
another. A bright glare of fire was dancing over the walls of the rooms.
"It's some brushwood behind the garage!" announced Dave, as he poked his
head out of a window to look. "It's that big heap the gardener put there
"He shouldn't have placed it so close," said Luke. "Why didn't he rake
it to some spot in the open?"
All of the boys were hurrying into their clothing as fast as possible.
The alarm had been given by Senator Morr, and by the chauffeur, who
slept in a room of the barn next to the garage.
"Oh, Roger!" gasped Phil. "That big cannon cracker!"
"I was thinking of it, Phil!" returned the senator's son, hurriedly. "We
must get it out somehow!"
"If it goes off it will wreck the building!"
"Yes, and the gasoline tank with it!"
The tank in question was not underground, as would have been safer, but
was located in a bricked-up place at one side of the garage. In the
storehouse were two barrels of gasoline, and also some lubricating oils.
If that storehouse caught, it would certainly make a hot and dangerous
blaze.
Pell-mell down the stairs rushed the youths, one after another. In the
meantime Senator Morr was dressing and so were the others of the
household.
"Be careful, boys! Don't go too close!" warned Mrs. Morr.
"Watch out for an explosion!" puffed her husband. The senator was so
stout that dressing in a hurry was no easy matter for him.
When the boys got out in the garden they found the chauffeur and the
gardener at work, trying to pull the burning brushwood away from the
garage. The flames were crackling merrily and the sparks were flying in
various directions.
"I'm going in and get that big cannon cracker," said Roger to Phil, in a
low voice, so that the others might not hear.
"I'll go with you, Roger. Be careful, though, the sparks are flying all
round that doorway."
"I've shut everything!" bawled the chauffeur, as he saw Roger at the
big sliding doors. "Better not open up, or the fire will get inside."
"I've got to go in, Jake!" answered Roger. "I've got to get something
out."
"What?" asked Dave, who was close by.
"Never mind, Dave. It's something that can't be left in there," and so
speaking Roger slid open a door and hurried inside the garage. Phil came
directly behind him.
On the floor, in a corner, was a box with ordinary firecrackers in
it--about two hundred packs in all. On top of this was a package in
paper containing the big cannon cracker.
"Lookout!"
"It's on fire!"
Thus yelled both boys as they saw that the flames from the brushwood had
made their way into a corner of the garage, just where the firecrackers
had been placed. For an instant they hesitated, then both leaped forward
again and commenced to stamp out the fire.
It had caught at a corner of the box containing the smaller firecrackers
and was also at the paper containing the cannon cracker. This Phil
caught up, knocking the fire away with his hand.
"What are you after, anyway?" The question came from Dave, who had
followed his chums into the building. Buster, Shadow, and Luke were
outside, at the rear, helping to pull the brushwood away and stamp out
the flames.
"Firecrackers--a box full!" cried Roger. "We must get it out!"
"A giant firecracker!" added Phil. "Big enough to blow down a house!"
And he held up the package and then made a dive for the outer air, for
the garage was now full of smoke.
Dave understood on the instant, and stooped to pick up one end of the
burning box. Roger took the other end, and thus they ran from the
garage.
Crack! crack! crack! It was the small firecrackers in the box that were
beginning to go off, the pieces flying through a lower corner of the
burning box.
"Into the back yard with it!" cried Roger. "Keep it away from the
buildings!"
"All right, this way!" answered Dave, and then the pair made for
something of an open lot behind the kitchen of the mansion and there
threw the box on the ground. Crack! bang! crack! went the firecrackers,
going off singly and in bunches, until all were shot off.
"It's a pity we didn't save 'em," said Roger, mournfully.
"It's a grand good thing they didn't go off in the garage," returned
Dave.
"Well, I saved the big cannon cracker anyway," said Phil, as he walked
up at that moment.
"Where did you put it?" questioned Roger, quickly.
"Over there, in a corner of the fence. I didn't want to take any
chances, otherwise I might have taken it to the barn."
"Better leave it outside, where it can't do any damage," said Dave.
While talking, the three boys had been running back to the garage. There
they found their chums and the men at work, including Senator Morr, all
hauling the burning brushwood away and pouring water from a small hose
on the flames. The most of the fire was out, so they found little to do.
Only one corner of the garage had been touched, and for this the senator
was thankful.
"But it was careless of you, James, to put that brushwood there, so
close to the building," he said to the gardener, "Don't do it again."
"If you please, sir, I didn't put the brushwood as close as that,"
replied the gardener, stoutly. "Somebody else did that."
"What!" cried the senator, in surprise.
"I said I didn't put the brushwood so close to the garage, sir,"
repeated the gardener. "I put it right there," and he pointed to a spot
about fifteen feet from the rear wall of the building. "I was going to
burn it up first thing in the morning,--that is if the young gentlemen
didn't want the stuff for a bonfire at night."
"But who did put the brushwood up against the garage?" demanded Senator
Morr.
"I'm sure I don't know," put in the chauffeur. "But what James says,
sir, is true--he put the heap out there--I was working around the garage
when he did it."
"Do you mean to insinuate that this fire was set by somebody?" cried the
senator, quickly.
"I don't know about that, sir," answered the chauffeur, while the
gardener merely shrugged his shoulders. He was an old man and one who
had been trusted by the Morrs for years.
"If what you say is true, I'll have to look into this matter," remarked
Senator Morr. "I don't propose to have my garage burnt down, with two
automobiles worth five thousand dollars,--not to say anything about the
danger to the rest of the place. If I find----"
Bang! It was an explosion like a cannon and made everybody jump. As Dave
looked, he saw a corner of a distant fence fly apart, and bits of fire
seemed to fill the midnight air. Then followed utter silence.
APART.]
"The cannon cracker!" gasped Phil.
"What could have made it go off?" asked Roger.
"Some sparks from this fire--or else it was lit when Phil took it out,"
answered Dave.
"What are you talking about?" asked Senator Morr, and when he had
been told he shook his head and smiled, grimly.
"Well, I'm glad it didn't go off in the garage," he said. "But after
this you must keep your explosives in a safer place. Jake, James, bring
some buckets of water and put out that fire from the explosion. It isn't
much, but we want no more sparks flying around here."
The water was brought, and soon every spark had been extinguished. Then
the crowd went back to the garage, to make sure that no more fire
lingered in that vicinity.
"It certainly looks as if somebody had set this fire," mused Senator
Morr. "Perhaps a tramp. Have you seen any such fellows around here?" he
asked, looking at the others.
The boys had seen no tramps at all, and James said he had seen none for
over a week.
"I saw one day before yesterday," said the chauffeur, "but I know he
left town that night--I saw him board a freight train."
"Well, it is strange. Keep your eyes open," said Senator Morr, and then
he returned to the house, to quiet his wife and retire once more.
"It's mighty queer about that fire," remarked Luke, when the boys were
undressing. "It certainly does look as if it was set."
"Dave, do you think Merwell and Haskers would do it?" questioned Roger.
"Yes, if they were in this neighborhood. But have they been here?"
The boys looked at each other. Nobody had seen Merwell or the former
teacher of Oak Hall in that vicinity.
"Let us make some inquiries down at the railroad station in the
morning," suggested Dave. "If those two stopped off here somebody must
have seen them."
"Phew! what a noise that cannon cracker did make!" murmured Phil. "If we
had set that off in the morning--as we intended--I reckon it would have
woke up the neighborhood pretty well."
"It did wake some folks up," answered Roger, for quite a few boys and
men had come up to find out what the flames and noise meant.
"It was certainly some firecracker," was Luke's comment.
"Say, speaking of firecrackers puts me in mind of a story!" burst out
Shadow.
"Wow! A story this time of night!" murmured Buster. "I'm going to bed."
"This is a short one," pleaded the would-be story-teller. "A man was
giving a celebration one Fourth of July to a lot of children. He had
ordered a lot of firecrackers, but they didn't come. So he sent a
telegram to the wholesale house in the city. 'Send big and little
crackers as ordered at once.' About an hour afterwards he got a return
telegram which said, 'Our grocery department is closed to-day. Your
order for crackers will be filled to-morrow.'"
"Call that a crackerjack joke?" asked Roger, with a grin.
"Don't crack any more like that, Shadow," added Dave.
"You might get fired if you do," contributed Phil; and then a general
laugh went up, after which all of the boys again retired.
In the morning the lads inspected the vicinity of the fire once more,
and spent some time in shooting off a pistol and a shotgun which Roger
possessed. Then, acting on a suggestion from Dave, they took a walk to
the railroad station.
Here an interesting bit of news awaited them, which was to the effect
that, owing to some trouble with a bridge about a mile outside of
Hemson, two passenger trains and a freight had been held up at the
station for several hours.
"Most of the passengers remained in the trains," said the station agent.
"But some of 'em got restless and they went over to the hotel, and some
walked down to where the bridge was being repaired."
"Did you notice two people in particular?" asked Roger, and described
Merwell and Job Haskers as well as he could.
"No, I don't remember seeing those fellows," said the agent.
From the railroad station the boys went to the hotel, and then walked
along the country road leading to the Morr place. Presently they met a
man driving a milk wagon.
"Say, you had a fire last night, didn't you?" asked the driver of Roger,
as he reined up.
"Yes, Mr. Platt," answered the senator's son. "But it didn't amount to
anything."
"How did it catch, do you know?" went on the driver of the milk wagon,
curiously.
"No, we are trying to find out."
"Maybe it was set. I see two fellers sneakin' around your place last
evening," went on Mr. Platt.
More
-
Discipline
A light step crossed the outer room, with something peculiar in its lightness, as if the heel were not touching the floor, with the effect of the padded fall of the feet of some great cat; there was both softness and the sense of weight. First the w... Discipline
He made the preparation for supper with such easy speed that everything seemed to be done by magic hands. When Joan's mother cooked supper there was always much rattling of the stove, then the building of the fire, a long preparation of food, and an... Don Carlos
Stewart took Nels, Monty, and Nick Steele aside out of earshot, and they evidently entered upon an earnest colloquy. Presently the other cowboys were called. They all talked more or less, but the deep voice of Stewart predominated over the others. T... Don Carlos's Vaqueros
Early the following morning Stewart, with a company of cowboys, departed for Don Carlos's rancho. As the day wore on without any report from him, Stillwell appeared to grow more at ease; and at nightfall he told Madeline that he guessed there was no... Don't Get Excited!
Lovers, it would seem, require much less material for a quarrel than persons in a less exalted frame of mind. Good Indian believed himself very much in love with his Christmas angel, and was very much inclined to let her know it, but at the same t... Don't You Like Me Any More?
Harshaw's rangers caught up with the militia an hour later. The valley men were big, tanned, outdoor fellows, whereas the militia company was composed of young lads from Colorado towns, most of them slight and not yet fully developed. The state tr... Don't You Touch Him!
Inside the big chuck tent of the construction camp the cook was busy forking steak to tin plates and ladling potatoes into deep dishes. "Git a move on you, Red Haid," he ordered. Bob Dillon distributed the food at intervals along the table whi... Dorman Plays Cupid
Dorman toiled up the steps, his straw hat perilously near to slipping down his back, his face like a large, red beet, and his hands vainly trying to reach around a baking-powder can which the Chinaman cook had given him. He marched straight to ... Dr Macbride Begs Pardon
Judge and Mrs. Henry, Molly Wood, and two strangers, a lady and a gentleman, were the party which had been driving in the large three-seated wagon. They had seemed a merry party. But as I came within hearing of their talk, it was a fragment of the... Dreams
Although the paper was a year old, Senor Johnson in due time received an answer from Kansas. A correspondence ensued. Senor Johnson enshrined above the big fireplace the photograph of a woman. Before this he used to stand for hours at a time slow... Dried Rose-leaves
The house that Prosper Gael had built for himself and for the woman whom Joan came to think of as the "tall child," stood in a canyon, a deep, secret fold of the hills, where a cliff stood behind it, and where the pine-needled ground descended bef... Dud Qualifies As Court Jester
It was still dark when Dud Hollister and Bob Dillon waded through the snow to the corral and saddled their horses. They jogged across the mesa through the white drifts. Bob's pony stumbled into a burrow, but pulled out again without damage. ... Eavesdropping
Out of the murmur of voices came one that Curly recognized as that of Soapy Stone, alias You Know Who. " ... then you'll take the 9:57, Sam...." After more whispering, "Yep, soon as you hear the first shot ... cover the passengers...." The... Echo Cliffs
WHEN thought came clearly to him he halted irresolute. For Mescal's sake he must not appear to have had any part in her headlong flight, or any knowledge of it. With stealthy footsteps he reached the cottonwoods, stole under the gloomy shade, a... Ed Austin Turns At Bay
Had it not been for her fears, Paloma Jones would have taken her visit to the Austin ranch as an unmixed enjoyment. To her Alaire had always been an ideally romantic figure. More than once, in her moments of melancholy, Paloma had envied Mrs. Aust... Edwards' Ultimatum
Edwards slid off the counter in Jackson's store and glowered at the pelting rain outside, perturbed and grouchy. The wounded man in the corner stirred and looked at him without interest and forthwith renewed his profane monologue, while the propriet... El Capitan
Stillwell's interest in the revolution across the Mexican line had manifestly increased with the news that Gene Stewart had achieved distinction with the rebel forces. Thereafter the old cattleman sent for El Paso and Douglas newspapers, wrote to ra... Eleanor Intervenes
The president's private car was side-tracked on the short spur at the eastern end of the Crow's Nest, and when Lidgerwood reached it he found the observation platform fully occupied. The night was no more than pleasantly cool, and the half-grown m... Em'ly
My personage was a hen, and she lived at the Sunk Creek Ranch. Judge Henry's ranch was notable for several luxuries. He had milk, for example. In those days his brother ranchmen had thousands of cattle very often, but not a drop of milk, save th... Emotions Are Tricky Things
A man's mind is a tricky thing—or, speaking more exactly, a man's emotions are tricky things. Love has come rushing to the beck of a tip-tilted chin, or the tone of a voice, or the droop of an eyelid. It has fled for cause as slight. Sometimes it run... En Passant
It was intentionally late in the day when we reached Dodge. My horse, which I was leading, gave considerable trouble while returning, compelling us to drive slow. The buyers repeatedly complained that dinner would be over at their hotel, but the det... Enter Bear-trap Collins
She had been aware of him from the moment of his spectacular entrance, though no slightest sign of interest manifested itself in her indolent, incurious eyes. Indeed, his abundant and picturesque area was so vivid that it would have been difficult n... Enter Simon Harley
The prospector's house in which they had found refuge was perched on the mountainside just at one edge of the draw. Rough as the girl had thought it, there was a more pretentious appearance to it than might have been expected. The cabin was of hewn ... Enter The Man
Some notable sight was drawing the passengers, both men and women, to the window; and therefore I rose and crossed the car to see what it was. I saw near the track an enclosure, and round it some laughing men, and inside it some whirling dust, and... Enter The Woman
"We are taking steps," said Mr. Taylor. "Bear Creek ain't going to be hasty about a schoolmarm." "Sure," assented the Virginian. "The children wouldn't want yu' to hurry." But Mr. Taylor was, as I have indicated, a serious family man. The pr... Equal Payment
They knew what it meant; even Joan had heard the cry of the lone wolf hunting in the lean time of winter, and of all things sad, all things lonely, all things demoniacal, the howl of a wolf stands alone. Lee Haines reached for his gun, little Joan s... Escape
Down, down I plunged, and the shock of the icy water seemed to petrify me. I should have gone straight to the bottom like a piece of lead but for the lasso. It tightened around my chest, and began to haul me up. I felt the air and the light, and o... Estrella
The honeymoon developed and the necessary adjustments took place. The latter Senor Johnson had not foreseen; and yet, when the necessity for them arose, he acknowledged them right and proper. "Course she don't want to ride over to Circle I with u... Evadna Goes Calling
"I have every reason to believe that your two missing jumpers took the train for Shoshone last night," Miss Georgie made answer to Good Indian's account of what had happened since he saw her. "Two furtive-eyed individuals answering your description ... Even Mushrooms Help
Bud wanted to have a little confidential talk with Marian. He hoped that she would be willing to tell him a great deal more than could be written on one side of a cigarette paper, and he was curious to hear what it was. On the other hand, he wanted ... Everyman's Share
"This switching-engine mystery opens up a field that I've been trying to get into for some little time, Mac," the superintendent began, after the half-hour had elapsed and the trainmaster had returned to the private office. "Sit down and we'll thr... Exit The King
They bedded that night under the great vault-roof where twinkle a million stars. There were three of the outlaw's men with him, and both Mcwilliams and his friend noticed that they slept a little apart from their chief. There were other indicatio... Exposed To The Sunlight
It was a month before Trevison went to town, again. Only once during that time did he see Rosalind Benham, for the Blakeleys had vacated, and goods and servants had arrived from the East and needed attention. Rosalind presided at the Bar B ranchho... Failure
Smaltz was a liar, as he said, but Bruce knew that he had told the truth regarding Banule's work. He confirmed the suspicions and fears that had been in Bruce's mind for months. Therefore, when he said quietly to Banule--"You'd better go up the hi... Faith And Unfaith
At Jane Withersteen's home the promise made to Mrs. Larkin to care for little Fay had begun to be fulfilled. Like a gleam of sunlight through the cottonwoods was the coming of the child to the gloomy house of Withersteen. The big, silent h... Fay
At the home of Jane Withersteen Little Fay was climbing Lassiter's knee. "Does oo love me?" she asked. Lassiter, who was as serious with Fay as he was gentle and loving, assured her in earnest and elaborate speech that he was ... Fire And Firecrackers
"What's that!" "The garage on fire!" "Say, look at the blaze!" Such were some of the cries, as the boys tumbled out of bed, one after another. A bright glare of fire was dancing over the walls of the rooms. "It's some brushwood behind th... Fire!
"It was not so much his wounds as his weakness," Dr. Graham was saying, later still that autumn night, "that led to my declaring Blakely unfit to take the field. He would have gone in spite of me, but for the general's order. He has gone now in sp... First Blood
After Ridgway's cavalier refusal to negotiate a peace treaty, Simon Harley and his body-guard walked back to the offices of the Consolidated, where they arrived at the same time as the news of the enemy's first blow since the declaration of renewed ... First Blood!
Occasionally Alice Mackenzie met Collins on the streets of Tucson. Once she saw him at the hotel where she was staying, deep in a discussion with her father of ways and means of running down the robbers of the Limited. He did not, however, make the ... First Principles
Judge Lindman shivered, though a merciless, blighting sun beat down on the great stone ledge that spread in front of the opening, smothering him with heat waves that eddied in and out, and though the interior of the low-ceilinged chamber pulsed wi... First Sight Of The Foe
Ray's gallant half hundred, as has been said, took the route for the north at break of day. Before them spread the open prairie, apparently level and unbroken for full five miles to the front and either flank, the distant slopes and ridges boundin... Flemister And Others
The jocosely spectacular arrest of Barton Rufford, with its appeal to the grim humor of the desert, was responsible for a brief lull in the storm of antagonism evoked by Lidgerwood's attempt to bring order out of the chaos reigning in his small king... Flesh
I Should you chance, in crossing a certain mountain pass in southern Catalonia, to find yourself poised above a little valley against the opposite side of which lies a monastery, look to the heights above it. Should you piece out from among the... Flight
There was a girl named Joan who followed Pierre Landis because he laid his hand upon her wrist, and there was another Joan who fled up the mountain-side at sight of him, as though the fire that had once touched her shoulder had burnt its way into ... Florence Grace Hallman Speaks Plainly
Andy Green rode thoughtfully up the trail from his cabin in One Man coulee, his hat tilted to the south to shield his face from the climbing sun, his eyes fixed absently upon the yellow soil of the hillside. Andy was facing a problem that concerned ... Following A Crooked Trail
Across Dry Valley a dust cloud had been moving for hours. It rolled into Saguache at the brisk heels of a bunch of horses just about the time the town was settling itself to supper. At the intersection of Main and La Junta streets the cloud was ch... For A Good Reason
The young ladies, following the custom of Arizona in summer, were riding by the light of the stars to avoid the heat of the day. They rode leisurely, chatting as their ponies paced side by side. For though they were cousins they were getting acquain... For Once At Least Lite Had His Way
Half a mile she galloped, and met Lite coming home. She glanced over her shoulder before she pulled Pard down to a walk, and Lite's greeting, as he turned and rode alongside her, was a question. He wanted to know what was the matter with her. He ... For The Good Of The Company
All through breakfast Applehead seemed to have something weighty on his mind. He kept pulling at his streaked, reddish-gray mustache when his fingers should have been wholly occupied with his food, and he stared abstractedly at the ground after he h... For The Kiddies
Trevison dropped from Nigger at the dooryard of Levins' cabin, and looked with a grim smile at Levins himself lying face downward across the saddle on his own pony. He had carried Levins out of the Belmont and had thrown him, as he would have thro... For The World's Championship
The scene on which Helen Messiter's eyes rested that mellow Fourth of July was vivid enough to have interested a far more jaded mind than hers. Nowhere outside of Cattleland could it have been duplicated. Wyoming is sparsely populated, but the rider... Forebodings
Almost at once they struck a fresh trail, made by a number of horsemen riding in a bunch, which led diagonally across middle pasture. It was easy to follow, and Hardenberg pushed his men hard to make up for delays which were likely to come later o... Foreshadowed Events
The major commanding looked up from the morning report and surveyed the post adjutant with something of perturbation, if not annoyance, in his grim, gray eyes. For the fourth time that week had Lieutenant Field requested permission to be absent fo... Forging A Letter
The impulse which had moved Harlan to send Red Linton to the T Down ranch to enlist the services of some of his old friends had resulted from a conviction that he could not depend upon those men of the Rancho Seco outfit who had seemed to him, to ... Fort Buford
We were at our rope's end. There were a few accounts to settle in Glendive, after which we would shake its dust from our feet. Very few of the quarantine guards returned to town, and with the exception of Sheriff Wherry, none of the leading cowmen, ... Foxy
After the expulsion of the master, the Twentieth School fell upon evil days, for the trustees decided that it would be better to try "gurl" teachers, as Hughie contemptuously called them; and this policy prevailed for two or three years, with the ... Foxy's Partner
It was an evil day for Hughie when he made friends with Foxy and became his partner in the store business, for Hughie's hoardings were never large, and after buying a Christmas present for his mother, according to his unfailing custom, they were r... Friendly Enemies
Ridgway had promised Aline that he would see her soon, and when he found himself in New York he called at the big house on Fifth Avenue, which had for so long been identified as the home of Simon Harley. It bore his impress stamped on it. Its auster... Friends From The East
Three days after her return to the ranch Madeline could not discover any physical discomfort as a reminder of her adventurous experiences. This surprised her, but not nearly so much as the fact that after a few weeks she found she scarcely remembere... Friends Or Foes?
Tom Fish had a profound respect for Return Kingdom from the moment the latter threw him; but he was no less pleasant and agreeable than before, and he proved himself a valuable friend then and in days long afterward. When night came, as the wind... From The Plains To The Point
CHAPTER I. RALPH MCCREA. The sun was going down, and a little girl with big, dark eyes who was sitting in the waiting-room of the railway station was beginning to look very tired. Ever since the train came in at one o'clock she had been... From The Point To The Plains
CHAPTER I. A CADET'S SISTER. She was standing at the very end of the forward deck, and, with flushing cheeks and sparkling eyes, gazing eagerly upon the scene before her. Swiftly, smoothly rounding the rugged promontory on the right, th... Fugitives From Justice
At the Lodge too an early breakfast was held, though it was five hours later than the one at the camp. The whole party was down by nine-thirty and was on the road within the hour. The morning was such a one as only the Rockies can produce. The win... Further Developments
While Harley had been in no way responsible for Pelton's murderous attack upon Yesler, public opinion held him to account. The Pinkertons who had, up till this time, been employed at the mines, were now moved to the hotel to be ready for an emergenc... Further Perplexities
Wayland, for his part, was not deceived by Siona Moore. He knew her kind, and understood her method of attack. He liked her pert ways, for they brought back his days at college, when dozens of just such misses lent grace and humor and romance to t... God's Ravens
I CHICAGO has three winds that blow upon it. One comes from the East, and the mind goes out to the cold gray-blue lake. One from the North, and men think of illimitable spaces of pinelands and maple-clad ridges which lead to the unknown deeps of ... Gold
As Lassiter had reported to Jane, Venters "went through" safely, and after a toilsome journey reached the peaceful shelter of Surprise Valley. When finally he lay wearily down under the silver spruces, resting from the strain of dragging p... Goliday's Choice
The east was streaked with pink and orange when The Kid and Harry Thomas rode into the sleeping town of Mariposa. The little Mexican city, they discovered, however, was not entirely asleep. At the northern edge of the city, on the stretch of sand... Gone
Motionless in his saddle, save for an occasional restless stamp of his horse, Bud Jessup waited patiently in front of the adobe shack at Las Vegas camp. His face was serious and thoughtful, and his glance was fixed on the open door through which c... Good Enough
"Alf" Banule, the electrical genius for whom Jennings had sent to help him rewind an armature and who therefore had taken Jennings's place as constructing engineer, had the distinction of being the only person Bruce had ever seen who could remove ... Good Indian
There is a saying--and if it is not purely Western, it is at least purely American--that the only good Indian is a dead Indian. In the very teeth of that, and in spite of the fact that he was neither very good, nor an Indian--nor in any sense "dead"...