The Long Dim TrailHooker, Forrestine C. (Forrestine Cooper)
General
The Long Dim Trail
Hooker, Forrestine C. (Forrestine Cooper)
Arizona -- Fiction; Cowboys -- Fiction; Ranch life -- Fiction; Western stories
The doctor laughed. "I feel like a small boy about to wriggle under the
canvas of a circus tent. I never dreamed that Arizona was such a
wonderland."
The eyes of the two men swept across the Sulphur Spring Valley that
undulated twenty miles from the Galiuro Mountains on the west to the
Grahams on the east; starting sixty miles north of the Diamond H in the
narrow Aravaipa Canon, it gradually broadened into a great plain that
terminated at the Mexican border.
"Of course," continued the doctor, "I had a vague idea of its mineral
wealth and cattle interests, but I must confess that until I reached
here the name of Arizona conjured visions of burning desert, Gila
monsters, rattlesnakes, horn-toads and Apaches. Even when I stepped from
the train and met you, the impression of a 'No-Man's Land' was strong
upon me. Yet now that I have been here a month I feel as though I shall
never want to leave it."
"You can make sure of that," retorted Traynor, "if you will go to the
Hasayampa River, kneel on the brink and drink of the water. You must be
very careful, though, to kneel above the crossing. This will keep you
from ever wishing to leave Arizona and you will receive the gift of
absolute truthfulness; but, should you drink while kneeling below the
crossing, truth and you will be divorced the balance of your life."
"Did you drink below the crossing or above?" challenged the doctor with
an amused smile.
"There is only one case on record where a man acknowledged that he drank
the water below the crossing. His name was Hasayampa Bill. He died a
year ago. Hasayampa Bill was a victim of circumstances, not intention.
He said that he was drinking above the crossing when he lost his balance
and fell into the stream which carried him far below. Though Hasayampa
swore solemnly that he kept his mouth shut--for the first time on
record--his reputation was thoroughly established. A letter addressed to
the 'Biggest Liar in Arizona' was accorded him by popular vote."
The doctor was about to reply, when the air was filled with
ear-splitting whistles and staccato cries. Then the big gates of the
corral swung open, and an avalanche of cattle tumbled madly through and
headed in a wild rush down the road that led south toward
Willcox--excited bellows and plaintive lowing of calves seeking their
mothers, mingled with the voices of invisible men, completely
obliterated by the clouds of alkali dust.
Traynor led the way into the stable where two saddled ponies twisted
nervously. The men looked at each other and smiled as the doctor
approached the pinto pony. Its eyes showed whites, its ears went back.
It sheered nervously, but Powell gained the saddle and, with Traynor
close beside him, they reached the moving herd.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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