FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56  
57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   >>   >|  
he beckoned to the Amarillo young man, and the latter instantly joined her. She had conquered the steer in a few seconds; the herd was now thundering down upon them. M'Gill, on the black pony, dashed by. "Bully for you, Miss Frances," he yelled. "You wait, Ratty!" Frances said; but, of course, only Pratt heard. "Father and Sam will jack you up for this, and no mistake!" Then she whipped out her revolver and fired it into the air--emptying all the chambers as the herd came on. The steers broke and passed on either side of their fallen brother. The tossing horns, fiery eyes and red, expanded nostrils made them look--to Pratt's mind--fully as savage as had the mountain lion the evening before. Then he looked again at his comrade. She was only breathing quickly now; she gave no sign of fear. It was all in the day's work. Such adventures as this had been occasional occurrences with Frances of the ranges since childhood. Pratt could scarcely connect this alert, vigorous young girl with her who had sat at the piano in the ranch-house the previous evening! "You're a wonder!" murmured Pratt Sanderson, to himself. And then suddenly he broke out laughing. "What's tickling you, Pratt?" asked Frances, in her most matter-of-fact tone. "I was just wondering," the Amarillo young man replied, "what Sue Latrop will think of you when she comes out here." "Who's she?" asked Frances, a little puzzled frown marring her smooth forehead. She was trying to remember any girl of that name with whom she had gone to school at the Amarillo High. "Sue Latrop's a distant cousin of Mrs. Bill Edwards, and she's from Boston. She's Eastern to the tips of her fingers--and talk about 'culchaw'! She has it to burn," chuckled Pratt. "Bill Edwards says she is just 'putting on dog' to show us natives how awfully crude we are. But I guess she doesn't know any better." The steers had swept by, and Pratt was just a little hysterical. He laughed too easily and his hand shook as he wiped the perspiration and dust from his face. "I shouldn't think she would be a nice girl at all," Frances said, bluntly. "Oh, she's not at all bad. Rather pretty and--my word--some dresser! No end of clothes she's brought with her. She's coming out to the Edwards ranch before long, and you'll probably see her." Frances bit her lip and said nothing for a moment. The big steer struggled again and groaned. The girl and Pratt were afoot and the stampede of
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50   51   52   53   54   55   56  
57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Frances

 

Edwards

 

Amarillo

 

steers

 

evening

 

Latrop

 

culchaw

 

fingers

 

putting

 

natives


chuckled

 

marring

 

smooth

 

forehead

 

puzzled

 

remember

 

distant

 

cousin

 
Boston
 

school


Eastern

 
clothes
 

brought

 

coming

 

dresser

 

Rather

 

pretty

 

groaned

 

struggled

 
stampede

moment
 

hysterical

 

laughed

 

easily

 
shouldn
 
bluntly
 
perspiration
 

chambers

 
instantly
 

passed


emptying

 

joined

 

revolver

 

expanded

 

nostrils

 

fallen

 

brother

 

tossing

 

whipped

 

conquered