The Land of Lure: A Story of the Columbia River BasinSmith, Elliott
General
The Land of Lure: A Story of the Columbia River Basin
Smith, Elliott
Frontier and pioneer life -- Fiction; Northwest, Pacific -- Fiction
The wagon had just turned into the highway a short distance ahead of the
rapidly moving cars, and as they approached with their horn coughing a
dusty warning, the driver drew out to one side to await their passing.
The first car rushed by and disappeared in a cloud of dust, and the one
in the rear, seeing the trouble the driver was having with his now
thoroughly frightened team, came along beside the wagon more slowly and
asked if they could be of assistance in straightening out the tangled
horses.
Travis Gully, for it was he and Joe who were on the wagon, said if
someone would go to the head of the leaders until he could get down, he
thought he could manage them until the car had gone by. One of the men
sprang from the car and was advancing to seize the horses bridles, when
looking up, he stopped short for an instant and reaching his hand up to
Gully, exclaimed, "Well, well, if it isn't Mr. Gully. How are you?"
Travis Gully, taking his attention from the horses which had now quieted
down since the car had stopped, looked at the man on the ground for an
instant, and bursting into a laugh as he recognized Thomas Dugan the
surveyor, he half climbed and half fell from the wagon, and grasped
Dugan by the hand and shook it cordially.
By this time another occupant of the car, who proved to be Mr. Palmer,
came forward, and after greeting Gully, inquired as to the health of the
rest of the family. Upon being assured that they were doing nicely, Mr.
Palmer said, "I am certainly glad to hear it. We will probably be out
your way tomorrow. We left Spokane early this morning and are going
through to Wenatchee for lunch. The owners of the land you cleared are
in the car that just passed."
Dugan had helped Joe from the wagon, and was commenting on his growth,
when Mr. Palmer asked Gully if they could assist him with his horses, if
not they would go on as they wished to overtake the other car in the
village just ahead.
Gully assured him that he could manage the team, and with the promise
that "we will see you tomorrow or the next day," Mr. Palmer and Dugan
entered the car, and proceeded on their journey.
Travis Gully watched them as they disappeared down the road in a cloud
of dust, and wondered what motive could be bringing them back to the
land on which they had already lost so heavily, but, with the hope that
they probably had some information relative to the irrigation project
that had now almost become a forgotten subject, he placed Joe back on
the wagon and climbing back to his own seat, spoke to the horses and
drove on to the village, with his load of hay.
Travis Gully had prospered, and his dream of a home just as he wanted
it, was fully realized. He had not developed all of his land, because
the original forty acres upon which he had pumped water from his well,
had proven so productive that it was more than he could handle alone, so
he did not see the necessity of developing more.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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