FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   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   >>   >|  
s. He had returned, as has been related, in time to see Bud leap from the fence to the back of a galloping horse in preparation for rodeo stunts. Then Billee Dobb had made his startling announcement about the ominous character of the new ranch purchased by the cattleman. "Before you spill your bad news, Billee," suggested Mr. Merkel, "maybe I ought to say a few words about what I've done. But also let me ask you if this Death Valley of yours is anything more than one of the picturesque names we have out here in the Golden West. You know we just naturally run to Dead Horse Gulch, Ghost Canyon and all that sort of stuff. So if your Death Valley doesn't mean more than those names, why----" "It means a while lot more than just a name, Boss," said the old puncher solemnly. "It means _real death_." "Death to whom, Billee?" asked Bud. "To anybody that's foolish enough to try to live there and ride herd," was the short answer. "How about the cattle?" Dick wanted to know. "The same thing happens to them as happens to the men," said Billee in a low voice. "They just naturally die off 'fore they can be shipped to market. Believe me, Death Valley is a good place to stay away from!" "How is it, then, Billee," asked Mr. Merkel, "that nothing happened to me? I just came from there. I don't buy a pig in a poke. I went to Dot and Dash and sized the place up before I closed the deal with Jed Barter. How is it Death Valley didn't get me, Billee?" Nothing daunted the old man replied: "You didn't stay there long enough." "Well, there may be something in that," admitted Bud's father. "But it won't take me long to tell you boys," and he indicated his son, Dick, Nort and all the other punchers. "For some time past," he went on, "I've had the notion that I wanted to spread out a little. Neither Diamond X nor Happy Valley is quite large enough. To make any money in the cattle business nowadays you got to do business on a large scale. So I've been looking around, and making inquiries, and in that way heard that the Dot and Dash ranch was in the market. I'd looked at several others before I got word about this and didn't like 'em, for one reason or another. "But when I got to Los Pompan, which is the nearest town to where Dot and Dash is located, it struck me that here I'd found just what I was looking for. The ranch wasn't too near the town, and yet it wasn't too far from the railroad, and I took the
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31   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   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Billee

 

Valley

 

business

 

naturally

 
wanted
 

market

 

cattle

 

Merkel

 

nearest

 

located


replied

 

struck

 

admitted

 
father
 
Pompan
 
daunted
 

Barter

 

railroad

 

Nothing

 

closed


Neither

 

Diamond

 

inquiries

 
making
 

nowadays

 

looked

 
spread
 
reason
 

punchers

 
notion

suggested
 

cattleman

 
Before
 

Golden

 
picturesque
 

purchased

 

galloping

 
returned
 

related

 

preparation


announcement

 
ominous
 

character

 

startling

 
stunts
 

answer

 

happened

 

Believe

 
shipped
 

Canyon