日期：2021-02-24 Stratton staggered back against the wall and leaned there, panting. All his strength had gone out in that last terrific blow, and for a space he seemed incapable of movement. At length, conscious of a warm, moist trickle on his chin, he raised one h... 阅读全文>>

日期：2021-02-24 On the other side of the house Buck found the mistress of the ranch and her two guests standing in a little group beside one of the dusty, discouraged-looking flower-beds. As he appeared they all glanced toward him, and a troubled, almost frightened... 阅读全文>>

日期：2021-02-24 More than once during the following few days, Stratton was forced to a grudging admiration, of Tex Lynchs cleverness. Even knowing what he did, he failed to detect the slightest sign in either the foreman or his men that they were waiting expectantl... 阅读全文>>

日期：2021-02-24 More than once during the next ten minutes Buck cursed himself inwardly for not having brought along the small but powerful pair of field-glasses that were tucked away in his bag. He had picked them up at the Divisional Headquarters only a week or t... 阅读全文>>

日期：2021-02-24 Strattons first feeling was that the girl must have made a mistake. In a dazed fashion he stepped forward and helped her out of the buckboard, but this was a more or less mechanical action and because she so evidently expected it. As he took her han... 阅读全文>>

日期：2021-02-24 The low-down, ornery liar! sputtered Bud Jessup, face flushed and eyes snapping. He told me to wait for them bolts if I had to stay here all day. I thought it was kinda funny hed let me waste all this time, but I didnt have no idea at all hed got me... 阅读全文>>

日期：2021-02-24 Instantly a sense of elation, tingling as an electric shock, surged over Stratton, and his grip on the Colt tightened. At last he was face to face with something definite and concrete, and in a moment all the little doubts and nagging nervous qualms... 阅读全文>>

日期：2021-02-24 As Buck appeared in the doorway, blinking a little at the lamp-light, the five card-players stared at him in astonishment. Where the devil have you been? inquired Kreeger, surprised out of his accustomed taciturnity. I thought yuh was asleep, added... 阅读全文>>

日期：2021-02-24 When the fact is chronicled that no less than three times in the succeeding eight days Buck Stratton was strongly tempted to put an end to the whole puzzling business by the simple expedient of declaring his identity and taking possession of the Sho... 阅读全文>>

日期：2021-02-24 It was the Mexican woman, Maria. As Buck recognized her he rose quietly and moved swiftly toward the door. But if he had hoped to catch her unawares, he was disappointed. He had scarcely taken a step when, through the telltale mirror, he saw her str... 阅读全文>>

日期：2021-02-24 Pop Daggett hesitated and glanced uneasily toward the door. I warned yuh, didnt I, the Shoe-Bar was a hoodoo outfit? he evaded. Stratton shook some tobacco into a cigarette-paper and jerked the draw-string with his teeth. Sure you did, but thats not... 阅读全文>>

日期：2021-02-24 Swiftly the echoes of the shots died away, leaving the still serenity of the night again unruffled. For a moment or two Stratton waited expectantly; then his shoulders squared decisively. I reckon its up to us to find out whats going on down there,... 阅读全文>>

日期：2021-02-24 Hello, kid! said Stratton quietly. You awake? Whats up, anyhow? There was a rustle in the adjoining bunk, the thud of bare feet on the floor, and Jessups face loomed, wedge-shaped and oddly white, through the shadows. Theyre gone, he repeated, with... 阅读全文>>

日期：2021-02-24 Supper, which was served in the ranch-house kitchen by Pedro, the Mexican cook, was not enlivened by much conversation. The food was plentiful and of good quality, and the punchers addressed themselves to its consumption with the single-hearted purp... 阅读全文>>

日期：2021-02-24 Stratton was never sure just how long he stood staring at her in dumb, dazed bewilderment. After those mental pictures of the Mary Thorne he had expected to find, it was small wonder that the sight of this slip of a black-frocked girl, with her soft... 阅读全文>>

日期：2021-02-24 But Strattons mind was too full of the amazing information he had gleaned from the old storekeeper to leave much room for minor reflections. He had been stunned at first--so completely floored that anyone save the garrulous old man intent on making... 阅读全文>>

日期：2021-02-24 Stratton suddenly turned his back and stared blankly through the open door. With the same unconscious instinct which had moved him to conceal his face from the old man, he fumbled in one pocket and drew forth papers and tobacco sack. It spoke well f... 阅读全文>>

日期：2021-02-24 Westward the little three-car train chugged its way fussily across the brown prairie toward distant mountains which, in that clear atmosphere, loomed so deceptively near. Standing motionless beside the weather-beaten station shed, the solitary passe... 阅读全文>>

日期：2021-01-24 NEARLY twenty years since I set out to seek my fortune. It has been a long search, but I think I have found it at last. I only asked to be a useful, happy woman, and my wish is granted: for, I believe I am useful; I know I am happy. Christie looked... 阅读全文>>

日期：2021-01-24 WHEN it was all over, the long journey home, the quiet funeral, the first sad excitement, then came the bitter moment when life says to the bereaved: Take up your burden and go on alone. Christies had been the still, tearless grief hardest to bear,... 阅读全文>>