"A man's plumb crazy to go round blatting all he knows"
The Happy Family
BY
B.M. BOWER
(B.M. SINCLAIR)
AUTHOR OF
"Chip of the Flying U," "The Range Dwellers," "Her Prairie Knight,""The Lure of the Dim Trails," "The Lonesome Trail," "The Long Shadow,"Etc.
G.W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY
PUBLISHERS NEW YORK
1907, 1909, 1910, by STREET & SMITH.
1910, by G.W. DILLINGHAM COMPANY.
The Happy Family.
To B.W.V.
" ...met the Ananias of the cow camp. I have knocked aboutcow camps, mining camps, railroad and telegraph camps, andkicked up alkali dust for many a weary mile on the desert. Yetwherever I went I never failed to meet him. He is part andparcel of every outfit.... He is indispensable, irresistible,and incorrigible; and while in but few cases can he be held athing of beauty, he is certainly a joy forever—at least tothose who have known his type with some degree of understanding...."
From a letter.
| CONTENTS. | |
|---|---|
| ANANIAS GREEN | 7 |
| BLINK | 35 |
| MISS MARTIN'S MISSION | 61 |
| HAPPY JACK, WILD MAN. | 90 |
| A TAMER OF WILD ONES. | 118 |
| ANDY, THE LIAR | 178 |
| "WOLF! WOLF!" | 210 |
| FOOL'S GOLD | 241 |
| LORDS OF THE POTS AND PANS | 269 |
The Happy Family
ANANIAS GREEN
Pink, because he knew well the country and because Irish, who alsoknew it well, refused pointblank to go into it again even as a rep,rode alone except for his horses down into the range of the Rocking R.General roundup was about to start, down that way, and there was stockbought by the Flying U which ranged north of the Bear Paws.
It so happened that the owner of the Rocking R was entertaining aparty of friends at the ranch; it also happened that the friends werequite new to the West and its ways, and they were intensely interestedin all pertaining thereto. Pink gathered that much from the crew,besides observing much for himself. Hence what follows after.
Sherwood Branciforte was down in the blacksmith shop at the RockingR, watching one Andy Green hammer a spur-shank straight. Andy was whathe himself called a tamer of wild ones, and he was hard upon hisriding gear. Sherwood had that morning watched with much admirationthe bending of that same spur-shank, and his respect for Andy wasbeautiful to behold.
"Lord,