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
"So fur as I'm concerned, I'd ruther be over there. It's this way, Doc.
Glendon ain't runnin' very straight, and nobody seems to give a damn
exceptin' me. I'd like to do what I can for him, and though I don't know
as I could do anythin'--you never can tell what'll turn up. 'Tain't
right leavin' Donnie and Mrs. Glendon there by themselves the way he
does. Glen told me he was goin' to quit as soon as he got a chanct; but
if he stays here much longer he's bound to mix up in trouble. He's
runnin' with a pretty bad bunch now. Another thing," the cowpuncher
hesitated, "Thar's a Mexican girl named Panchita. I guess Mrs. Glendon
is about the only one who don't know about her. Glen's plumb locoed over
the girl and that's whar his money goes, when he gets hold of any."
Powell started angrily, "The cur! With such a wife and boy! Limber,
sometimes I feel ashamed to call myself a man, when such creatures as
Glendon are known as men."
"Mebbe Glen don't figger just what it is leadin' up to. He was a mighty
different sorter person when he fust come here, and everyone liked him.
He'd get full onct in a while, but he played white until this last
couple of years. He's just the wrong kind of a man for Arizona. Take him
some other place and mebbe he'd manage to average up pretty fair with
the rest of the bunch; but he's sure goin' the wrong trail here."
The cowboy rose, and Powell held out his hand impulsively, saying, "All
right, Limber. We pull together."
"So long as you want me, Doc."
Their hands gripped and as they looked into each other's eyes, both men
recognized a bond that was stronger than blood--the brotherhood of real
men.
After Limber had gone, Doctor Powell sat meditating over what the cowboy
had told him concerning Glendon. The wreaths of smoke that rose from his
cigar framed a shadowy vision of Katherine Glendon's face, and Powell
wondered vaguely where he had seen her before they met in the cave near
the Circle Cross. Memory refused to aid him.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Powell and Chappo were alone in the new home at Hot Springs ranch.
Limber had gone to the Diamond H in order to adjust the final details of
the joint range work.
While the Mexican busied himself in the kitchen, Powell smoked
contentedly in the living-room as he sat before the fire of blazing
mesquite knots. He glanced about the home-like place, with its
red-shaded lamp on a large table that was strewn with magazines. A desk
occupied one end of the room and book shelves held well-worn volumes at
the opposite end. The couch, which was covered with a glowing Indian
blanket and mannish pillows, harmonized with the massive brown leather
chairs and Navajo rugs on the floor. The pictures bore signatures of
well-known artists.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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