Wolfville Days

Henry Lewis Alfred

Description

Ready for an engrossing read that encapsulates the magic and madness of the Wild West? This classic of the Western genre features everything you're looking for -- heroic cowboys, rowdy ranch hands, rollicking adventure, and the vast Western landscape.

Sujets

• Westerns
• Western (genre)
• Western

Informations

• Publié par: The Floating Press
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781775455103
• Langue: English

Extrait

WOLFVILLE DAYS
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ALFRED HENRY LEWIS
 
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Wolfville Days First published in 1902 ISBN 978-1-77545-510-3 © 2012 The Floating Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. While every effort has been used to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information contained in The Floating Press edition of this book, The Floating Press does not assume liability or responsibility for any errors or omissions in this book. The Floating Press does not accept responsibility for loss suffered as a result of reliance upon the accuracy or currency of information contained in this book. Do not use while operating a motor vehicle or heavy equipment. Many suitcases look alike. Visit www.thefloatingpress.com
Contents
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Chapter I - The Great Wolfville Strike Chapter II - The Grinding of Dave Tutt Chapter III - The Feud of Pickles Chapter IV - Johnny Florer's Axle Grease Chapter V - Toothpick Johnson's Ostracism Chapter VI - The Wolfville Daily Coyote Chapter VII - Cherokee Hall Plays Poker Chapter VIII - The Treachery of Curly Ben Chapter IX - Colonel Sterett's Reminiscences Chapter X - How the Dumb Man Rode Chapter XI - How Prince Hat Got Help Chapter XII - How Wolfville Made a Jest Chapter XIII - Death; And the Donna Anna Chapter XIV - How Jack Rainey Quit Chapter XV - The Defiance of Gene Watkins Chapter XVI - Colonel Sterett's War Record Chapter XVII - Old Man Enright's Love Chapter XVIII - Where Whiskey Billy Died Chapter XIX - When the Stage was Stopped
Chapter I - The Great Wolfville Strike
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"No, sir, even onder spur an' quirt, my mem'ry can only canter backto one uprisin' of labor in Wolfville; that was printers."
At this the Old Cattleman looked unduly sagacious, refreshed himselfwith a puff or two at his pipe, and all with the air of one whomight, did he see fit, consider the grave questions of capital andlabor with an ability equal to their solution. His remark was growthof the strike story of some mill workmen, told glaringly in thenewspaper he held in his hands.
"Wolfville is not at that time," he continued, "what you-all Eastwould call a swirlin' vortex of trade; still she has her marts.Thar's the copper mines, the Bird Cafe Op'ry House, the Red Light,the O. K. Restauraw, the Dance Hall, the New York Store an' sim'larhives of commerce. Which ondoubted the barkeeps is the hardestworked folks in camp, an' yet none of 'em ever goes on the warpathfor shorter hours or longer pay, so far as I has notice. Barkeepsthat a-way is a light-hearted band an' cheerful onder their burdens.Once when Old Monte brings the stage in late because of some boggin'down he does over at a quicksand ford in the foothills, a shorthornwho arrives with him as a passenger comes edgin' into the Red Light.Bein' it's four o'clock in the mornin', the tenderfoot seems amazedat sech activities as faro-bank, an' high-ball, said devices bein'in full career; to say nothin' of the Dance Hall, which 'Temple ofMirth,' as Hamilton who is proprietor tharof names it, is whoopin'it up across the street.
"'Ain't you open rather late?' says the shorthorn. His tones isapol'getic an' no offence is took.
"That's one of them gratefyin' things about the Southwest. Thattemperate region don't go pirootin' 'round strivin' to run its brandonto things as insults where none ain't meant. The Southwest ropesonly at the intention. You may even go so far as to shoot the wronggent in a darkened way, an' as long as you pulls off the play in asperit of honesty, an' the party plugged don't happen to be apop'lar idol, about the worst you'd get would be a caution from theStranglers to be more acc'rate in your feuds, sech is thefairmindedness an' toleration of Southwest sentiment.
"As I su'gests, the barkeep, realizin' that the stranger's bluffarises from cur'osity rather than any notion of what booksportscalls 'captious criticism,' feels no ombrage.
"'What was you-all pleased to remark?' retorts the barkeep as heslams his nose-paint where the shorthorn can get action.
"'Nothin',' replies the shorthorn, imbibin' of his forty drops,"only it sort o' looks to my onaccustomed eye like this deadfall isopen rather late."
"'Which she is some late,' admits the barkeep, as he softly swabsthe counter; 'which it is some late for night before last, but it'sjest the shank of the evenin' for to-night.'
"But, as I observes a bit back on the trail, I never do hear of anymurmur of resentment on the part of the toilin' masses of the town,save in the one instance when that bunch of locoed printers capersout an' defies the editor an' publisher of the Wolfville COYOTE, thesame bein' the daily paper of the outfit.
"This yere imprint, the COYOTE, is done owned an' run by ColonelWilliam Greene Sterett. An' I'll pause right yere for the doublepurpose of takin' a drink an' sympathisin' with you a whole lot innot knowin' the Colonel. You nacherally ain't as acootely aware ofthe fact as I be, but you can gamble a bloo stack that not knowin'Colonel Sterett borders on a deeprivation. He is shore wise, theColonel is, an' when it comes to bein' fully informed on everyp'int, from the valyoo of queensup before the draw to the politicaleffect of the Declaration of Independence, he's an even break withDoc Peets. An' as I've asserted frequent—an' I don't pinch down achip—Doc Peet's is the finest eddicated sharp in Arizona.
"We-all will pass up the tale at this crisis, but I'll tell youlater about how Colonel Sterett comes a-weavin' into Wolfville thattime an' founds the Coyote. It's enough now to know that when theseyere printers takes to ghost-dancin' that time, the Colonel has beenin our midst crowdin' hard on the hocks of a year, an' is held inhigh regyard by Old Alan Enright, Doc Peets, Jack Moore, Boggs,Tutt, Cherokee Hall, Faro Nell, and other molders of local opinion,an' sort o' trails in next after Enright an' Peets in public esteem.The Colonel is shore listened to an' heeded at sech epocks asWolfville sets down serious to think.
"Them printers of the Colonel's stampedes themse'fs jest followin'the latter's misonderstandin' with Huggins, who conducts the BirdCage Op'ry House, an' who as I've allers maintained, incites themmechanics, private, to rebellion, as a scheme of revenge on theColonel. The trouble which bears its final froote in this laboruprisin' is like this. Huggins, as noted, holds down the Bird CageOp'ry House as manager, an' when lie's drunk—which, seein' thatHuggins is a bigger sot than Old Monte, is right along he allowshe's a 'Impressario.' Mebby you saveys 'Impressario,' an'experiences no difficulty with the same as a term, but Boggs an'Tutt goes to the fringe of a gun play dispootin' about its meanin'the time Huggins plays it on the camp first as deescriptif of hisgame.
"'A Impressario is a fiddler,' says Boggs; 'I cuts the trail of onein the States once, ropes him up, an' we has a shore enough time.'
"'Sech observations,' observes Tutt, to whom Boggs vouchsafes thisinformation, 'sech observations make me tired. They displays theonlimited ability for ignorance of the hooman mind. Boggs, I don'twant to be deemed insultin', but you-all oughter go to night-schoolsome'ers ontil you learns the roodiments of the American language."
"When this yore colloquy ensooes, I'm away on the spring round-up,an' tharfor not present tharat; but as good a jedge as Jack Moore,insists that the remainder of the conversation would have come offin the smoke if he hadn't, in his capacity of marshal, pulled hissix-shooter an' invoked Boggs an' Tutt to a ca'mer mood.
"But speakin' of this Huggins party, I never likes him. Aside fromhis bein' mostly drunk, which, no matter what some may say or think,I holds impairs a gent's valyoo as a social factor, Huggins isavaricious an' dotes on money to the p'int of bein' sordid. He'dgloat over a dollar like it was a charlotte roose, Huggins would.So, as I says, I ain't fond of Huggins, an' takes no more pleasureof his company than if he's a wet dog. Still, thar's sech a thing asdooty; so, when Huggins comes wanderin' wild-eyed into the Red Lightabout first drink time one evenin', an' confides to me in a whisperthat thar's a jack rabbit outside which has sworn to take his life,an' is right then bushwhackin' about the door waitin' to execootethe threat, I calls Doc Peets, an' aids in tyin' Huggins down sothat his visions can be met an' coped with medical.
"Peets rides herd on Huggins for about a week, an' at last effectshis rescoo from that hostile jack rabbit an' them crimsonrattlesnakes an' blue-winged bats that has j'ined dogs with it inits attempts ag'in Huggins. Later, when Peets sends his charges,this yere ingrate Huggins—lovin' money as I states—wants to squar'it with a quart or two of whiskey checks on the Bird Cage bar.Nacherally, Peets waves aside sech ignoble proffers as insults tohis professional standin'.
"'An' you all don't owe me a splinter, Huggins,' says Peets, as heturns down the prop'sition to take whiskey checks as his reward.'We'll jest call them services of mine in subdooin' your deliriumtreemors a contreebution. It should shorely be remooneration enoughto know that I've preserved you to the Wolfville public, an' thatthe camp can still boast the possession of the meanest sport an'profoundest drunkard outside of the Texas Panhandle.'
"Bar none, Doc Peets is the bitterest gent, verbal, that ever makesa moccasin track in the South-west. An' while Huggins ain't pleasednone, them strictures has to go. To take to pawin' 'round forturmoil with Peets would be encroachin' onto the ediotic. Even if heemerges alive from sech controversies—an' it's four to one hewouldn't; for Peets, who's allers framed up with a brace ofderringers, is about as vivid an enterprise as Wolfville affords—the Stranglers would convene with Old Man Enright in the cha'r, an'Huggins wouldn't last as long as a drink of whiskey. As it is,Huggins gulps his feelin's an' offers nothin' in return to Peets'sremarks.
"No; of course Doc Peets ain't that diffusive in his confi