Produced by David Edwards, Woodie4 and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) Transcriber notes: For the benefit of certain readers, explanatory names have been added to some illustration tags and these have been identified with an asterisk. A list of contents was not in the original book and has been added. THE BUSTED EX-TEXAN AND OTHER STORIES BY W. H. H. MURRAY [Illustration: Cover]* [Illustration: W. H. H. Murray] THE BUSTED EX-TEXAN AND OTHER STORIES BY W. H. H. MURRAY AUTHOR OF "DAYLIGHT LAND," "THE STORY THE KEG TOLD ME," "ADIRONDACK ADVENTURES," ETC. PHOTOGRAVURE PORTRAIT AND EIGHT FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS BY THOS. WORTH. BOSTON DE WOLFE, FISKE & CO., PUBLISHERS 1890 COPYRIGHT 1889 BY W. H. H. MURRAY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CONTENTS The Busted Ex-Texan How Deacon Tubman And Parson Whitney Celebrated New Year's. The Leaf Of Red Rose ILLUSTRATIONS. I. "I AM A BUSTED EX-TEXAN." II. "PRACTICALLY INSIDE THE PAIL." III. "AND WHEN I CAME DOWN." IV. "LAY ABOARD OF THE OLD CUSS." V. "LUFF HER UP--LUFF HER UP." VI. THE DEACON AND PARSON. VII. THE RACE. VIII. THE FIRST PRIZE FOR THE _Wickedest Cow_. THE BUSTED EX-TEXAN. THE BUSTED EX-TEXAN. We were camped amid the foot-hills on the trail which led up to the Kicking Horse Pass. The sun had already passed from sight, beyond the white summits above us, and the shadow of the monstrous mountain range darkened the prairie to the east, to the horizon's rim. Our bivouac was made in a grove of lofty firs, six or eight in number; and a little rivulet, trickling from the upper slopes, fell, with soft, lapsing sound, within a few feet of our camp-fire. We did not even pitch a tent, for the sky was mild, and above us the monstrous trees lifted their protecting canopy of stems. The hammocks were swung for the ladies, and each gentleman "preempted" the claim that suited him best, by depositing his blanket and rifle upon it. The entire party were in the best of spirits, and nature responded to our happiness in its kindest mood. Laughter sounded pleasantly at intervals from the busy groups, each working at some self-appointed industry. The hum of cheerful conversation mingled with the murmurs of the brook; and now and then the snatch of some sweet song would break from tuneful lips, brief, spirited, melodious as a bobolink's, dashing upward from the clover-heads. And before the mighty shadow lying gloomily on the great prairie plain, which stretched eastward for a thousand miles, had grown to darkness, the active, happy workers had given to the bivouac that look of designed orderliness which a trained party always give to any spot they select in which to make a camp or pass a night. An hour before, there was nothing to distinguish that grove of trees, or the