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the Lonesome Gods (1983)

And she's busy, workin' around, but listening. I tell you, Hannes, within the next three months that woman knows more about what's happenin' in California than anybody! "Stearns isn't hurting for money, she's an attractive woman, so he doesn't dun her. When she's in business for about six months,...

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Westward the Tide (1950)

He was circling toward his own wagons when he saw a group of men standing to one side. They all looked up as he drew near. Colonel Orvis Pearson, Brian Coyle, Herman Reutz, Buffalo Murphy, Barney Coyle and several others, including Clive Massey and Logan Deane. Matt pulled up, glancing over the g...

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Taggart (1959)

He got out several cartridges and placed them in a neat row on a flat rock. They looked good there, ready for business. He put the Winchester down and sat back, watching the Indians moving about the fire, near the spring. Thoughts of the women went through his mind. That Consuelo was a fine figur...

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Under the Sweetwater Rim (1971)

Two hundred feet below and half a mile away the wagon train lay scattered on the freshening green of the April grass. Death had come quickly and struck hard, leaving the burned wagons, the stripped and naked bodies, unnaturally white beneath the sun. The man in the ill-smelling buckskins brought ...

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the High Graders (1965)

Eli Patterson had been a Quaker, a man of deep conviction who never touched a gun fo r his own use and did not approve of those who did. Yet he was dead, shot to death, and buried her e among the victims of gun and knife, and i f rumor could be credited, he had himself died gun i n hand. The flam...

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Showdown at Yellow Butte (1983)

For an instant, he stood poised, his face blank, then realization hit him. "Look out!" he yelled. "Hit the dirt!" His voice was drowned in a roar of guns and something smashed him in the body even as he fell. Then something else slugged him atop the head and a vast wave of blackness folded over h...

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the Tall Stranger (1982)

Fine white dust hung in a sifting cloud above the wagon train, caking the nostrils of animals and men, blanketing the sides of oxen and horses, dusting a thin film over men and women. And the miles stretched on before them, endless and timeless. Red-rimmed and bloodshot eyes stared with dazed wea...

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the Iron Marshall (1979)

That girl's a lady." Shanaghy shrugged. "Anybody can want money, and I've seen some pretty cold-blooded ladies. I've seen them at cockfights and dogfights, real bluestockings, and enjoying every minute of it." He walked out again on the street. Right now he was wishing he had a friend, any kind o...

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Buckskin Run (Ss) (1981)

The Historica l Notes are exactly that, bits of western violence lifted fro m the day-by-day lives of western people. It was not, a s many have surmised, a lawless time. The duel was, i n many quarters of the world, still the accepted method o f settling disputes. However, at the time of the gun ...

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the Burning Hills (1956)

Jack Sutton stood very still, hearing the slow heavy beat of his heart. He wished he could see Trace Jordan. This shadowy figure worried him. There was no personality there, only something dark, indefinite, indistinct. Never, since the beginning, had he seen this man. His partner he had killed an...

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May There Be a Road (Ss) (2001)

In fact, he surveyed the world with approval. For the Cactus Kid, christened Nesselrode Clay, had but an hour before he closed a sale for one thousand head of beef cattle, and the check reposed in his pocket. Moreover, the Kid was young, the Kid was debonair, and the Kid walked the earth with a l...

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Valley Of the Sun (Ss) (1995)

You have no more evidence against the ranchers than they would have against us.". "That's what I've said, Roy," Loring interposed. "We can't go off half-cocked when it will lead to bloodshed. The odds are all against us, anyway. Before we move we must be sure.". "This Ranger won't help us any!". ...

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Hondo (1953)

His buckskin shirt, seasoned by sun, rain, and sweat, smelled stale and old. His jeans had long since faded to a neutral color that lost itself against the desert. He was a big man, wide-shouldered, with the lean, hard-boned face of the desert rider. There was no softness in him. His toughness wa...

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Guns Of the Timberlands (1955)

. . you remember the stories of the old Vikings? How they went berserk in battle? Clay's like that. He can be a cold, methodical, dangerous fighter up to a point, and then he goes completely hog-wild and reckless. Like the other night when he charged that campfire. The man would charge hell with ...

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Conagher (1969)

The rider wheeled his horse and rod e back, lending a stirrup to Parnell. Just a s Parnell lifted a foot to the stirrup , Conagher coolly shot again, kicking san d under the horse's belly. The horse lunged, and Parnell, his foo t caught in the stirrup, fell to the sand, an d the plunging horse dr...

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West Of Dodge (Ss) (1996)

To err is human, and Bill McClary was all too human, which accounted for the fact that the six-shooter pride of the Big Bend lay flat on his face in the bottom of a sandy draw with a hole in his head. McClary was a reckless and ambitious young man known from Mescal to Muleshoe as fast on the draw...

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Flint (1960)

Kettleman was about to make his second attempt. If he did not succeed this time he would never know it, for he would be dead. When a man has but a few months to live, he can, if he so wills, choose the manner of his going, and Kettleman had made such a choice. He was now on his way to a place of ...

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the Rider Of Ruby Hills (1986)

Often, just one situation appears, with perhaps a character in that situation. If not, one tries to find a character or characters whose presence would contribute to the drama. Fictionalized events may be chosen in the same way. For example, the trip across the mountain during the terrible thunde...

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There's Always a Trail (1984)

He Was A Lean, Leather Skinned Man With bleak eyes and a stubble of beard on hi s jaw. He was a stranger in Pagosa, and showed no desire t o get acquainted. "It's an even bet he's already dead," Hardin said, "ther e would be no reason to keep him alive once they had th e money." "Dead or alive, i...

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Catlow (1963)

Wherever buffalo grazed, cattle were rounded up, or mustangs tossed their tails in flight, men talked of Bijah Catlow. He was a brush-buster from the brazada country down along the Nueces, and he could ride anything that wore hair. He made his brag that he could outfight, outride, outtalk, and ou...

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the Key-Lock Man (1965)

. . I've been that way a time or two." Under his breath Gay said, "You the one shot that man down to Freedom?" "Yes." "Description sounded like you. The shootin' didn't." "He was facing the bar, half-turned and drew. My first shot got him back of the left shoulder, the second in the spine. He'd b...

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Son Of a Wanted Man (1984)

Deer were feeding in the forest glades among the stands of ponderosa and fir, and trout were leaping in the sun-sparkled streams. A shadow moved under the ponderosa, then was gone. Five deer fed on the grass along the bank of a mountain stream back of Finger Butte, their coats mottled with the li...

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Riders Of the Dawn (1980)

Ah, it's a grand feeling to be young and tough with a heart full of hell, strong muscles, and quick, flexible hands! And the feeling that somewhere in town there's a man wh o would like to tear down your meat house with hands or gun. It was like that, Hattan's Point was, when I swung dow n from m...

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the Strong Shall Live (Ss) (1980)

He was still two hundred yards off and cutting across a field bright with larkspur, paintbrush, and sego lily when he saw Piute Bill come to the door, a Winchester in his hands. Galway rode up to the door and hooking one leg around the saddle horn he reached for the makings. "You're going to need...

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Passin' Through (1985)

Cattle Graze Where the town once stood, and thick stands of Gambel oak have replaced the hastily constructed buildings that once occupied the site. Occasional deer browse where the eating house stood, and the town site is part of a ranch, privately owned. The town began as did many western towns,...

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the Sackett Companion (1992)

Unknown @page { margin-bottom: 5.000000pt; margin-top: 5.000000pt; } 193-194 Irwin, John, see John Irwin's Rope-Walk Itchakomi Ishaia, 78, 79 Hadden, Arch and Wolf, 166 Hakluyt, Richard, 33 Halloran, Doc, 125, 190 Hammer, Ollie, and Tin-Cup Hone, 179 Haney, Highpockets, 206 Hardyville, 133 Haslin...

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Rowdy Rides to Glory (1987)

Rowdy Horn Stared Gloomily At Cub's Right Hind Leg And Shook his head with regret. "No use even thinkin' about it, jenny," he admitted ruefully to the girl he wanted to marry. "Cub won't work at the Stock man's Show this year. Not with that leg!" Jenny Welman nodded, faintly irritated. Something ...

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with These Hands (Ss) (2002)

"Dad just won't listen. He says you're no good. That you've no sense of responsibility. He says you haven't anything and you never will have." "Do you think that, Ginnie?" Tom Brandon asked. "Do you?" "You know I don't, Tom. You shouldn't even ask. But you can't blame Dad. He only wants what is b...

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the Quick and the Dead (1983)

"And you shall have them! We will start at daybreak." Later that day they saw more wild horses and when they started in the morning the air was clear. Duncan pointed with his whip. "Susanna? Tom! The mountains!" They were there, low on the horizon and faintly purple with distance. He stared at th...

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the Man Called Noon (1970)

Then he moved, swiftly and silently, shifting position along the mountainside, choosing a place of concealment where there seemed to be none. There was no sound. The sudden burst of gun shots had silenced the forest. Even the aspen leaves seemed to cease then- trembling. Sunlight falling through ...

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West from Singapore (Ss) (1987)

Every time you come around me I end up getting shot at." Major Arnold smiled blandly. "Never give it a thought, Jim. I don't. They can't shoot a man that was born to be hung." "Huh!" Ponga Jim emptied his glass and reached for the bottle. "That's a swell crack from the guy whose bacon I've saved ...

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Riding for the Brand (Ss) (1986)

The ownership or control of land was nothing without water, and most cattlemen did not own the land on which their cattle grazed. They merely found the range and grazed their cattle until it became too crowded or they were impelled to move on. The West has ways of hiding its water. At Tinajas Alt...

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Where the Long Grass Blows (1976)

All his life he'd worked for other men. Now he's ready to settle down and he's found the perfect place. But rustlers turned ranchers rule the valley he's chosen, and behind their respectability they are still outlaws at heart. Canavan isn't about to back down to their threat of trouble. He's stak...

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How the West Was Won (1963)

It was the Union that finally opened the West, a free, united nation where all men were equal, where each had his right to his own. The open land beckoned, offered the vastest empire man could desire, providing the space and riches needed for the accomplishment of the nation's manifest destinyaEU...

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Monument Rock (Ss) (1998)

She was afraid of Frank Mailer, the man whom she was to marry. She realized that it was not size alone that made her afraid of him, but something else, something she saw in his blue, slightly glassy eyes, and the harshness of his thin-lipped mouth. He was big, the biggest man she had ever seen, a...

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Last Stand at Papago Wells (1957)

The shotgun was aimed at Kimbrough and the range was no more than thirty feet. "You drop that gun, Mister Kimbrough, and you drop it now. You make yourself a move and I'll cut your head off. The second barrel goes for him." She jerked her head to indicate Zimmerman. "And if you don't think I'll d...

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Chancy (1968)

They had a fire going and coffee on, and the smell of the coffee and of bacon frying fairly set my stomach to asking questions of my face. I'd come a far piece with nothing to chew on but my thoughts. When I came up to the fire not one of them upped to say aye, yes, or no. They just sat there loo...

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the Empty Land (1969)

During all those months neither Madge's aunt nor her lover had done anything. living well off Madge's earnings, and then one night while both lay in a drunken sleep, Madge bought a horse and rode out of town. In Austin she hired the widow of an Irish miner and an old Negro who drove the rig for t...

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Smoke from This Altar (1990)

Even the wings of death avoid this place, Avoid these barren fields, for Death itself Must nestle to the warmth of life and youth, And nothing dies where nothing lives. These men Wither away and fall, but do not die; They age, but not with years, they die but not With death, but with the chill of...

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Education Of a Wandering Man (1990)

For example: no Indian who was not present at the signing of a treaty felt bound by it. For this reason many Indians would deliberately absent themselves on such occasions. In most cases, when a chief signed a treaty, he was signing for himself. He had no authority to force other Indians to abide...

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Bendigo Shafter (1979)

It was now only a few weeks to Christmas. Refolding the newspaper to leave no indication it had been opened, I returned everything to the saddlebags. I took his rifle from its scabbard and went back into the house. Morrell had been stripped to the waist and the blood washed away. The bullet went ...

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Radigan (1958)

The Driving Rain Drew A Sullen, Metallic Curtain Across The fading afternoon, and beneath his horse's hoofs the earth was soggy with this rain and that of the rains that had gone before. Hunching his big shoulders under the slicker, Tom Radigan was thinking of the warm cabin and the hot coffee th...

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Showdown On the Hogback (1991)

I hear this Bob McLennon used to be a frontier marshal. I never liked marshals no way." They drifted to their horses and then moved slowly away-Dornie Shaw, Poinsett, and Goff toward the west and Bob McLennon. Alton Burwick, his eyes thoughtful, rode toward the east and Mustang. With him rode the...

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War Party (Ss) (1982)

When my roan topped out on the ridge, the first thing I saw was that girl. She was far off, but a man riding lonesome country gets so he can pick out anything strange to it, and this girl was standing up straight beside the trail like she was waiting for a stage. Trouble was, nothing but riders o...

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from the Listening Hills (Ss) (2004)

It was growing dark, and would soon be night. Five ships were anchored in the harbor, all of them with cargoes for American troops. One, her freight discharged, was loading chrome from lighters. The last rays of sunshine tipped the masts with transient gold. The freighter loading ore would sail t...

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Off the Mangrove Coast (Ss) (2000)

He was a longshoreman, too, but he only made his living at that. Checker playing was his life. I never saw anybody take the game like he took it. Hour after hour, when there was nobody for him to play with, he'd sit at a table in the Seaman's Institute and study the board and practice his moves. ...

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to Tame a Land (1955)

. . ... And People Say I Killed Twenty-Seven Men. Th e Fact Is, I killed just ten, every man jack of them i n a stand-up, fair fight. And that goes for Indians a s well, though nobody counted Indians in those days. Some people say I was all bad. That I killed without reason. That I was an outlaw....

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Crossfire Trail (1953)

A brass hurricane lantern, its light turned low, swung from a beam overhead, and in the vague light the big man studied a worn and sweat-stained chart. There was no sound in the fo'c'sle but the distant rustle of the bow wash about the hull, the lazy creak of the square rigger's timbers, a few sn...

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Kiowa Trail (1964)

They got up as I came near. Tod was twenty-two, and had been punching cows on Texas range since he was fourteen. He and Tom Lundy rode as saddle partners. Red Mike was a tough hand, a good man with a rope and with any kind of stock. He was also a very good man with a gun ... and he didn't scare. ...

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Matagorda (1967)

Major Tappan Duvarney Rested His Hands On The Rail And Stared toward the low sandy shore. It was not what he had expected of Texas, but whatever lay ahead represented his last chance. He had to make it here or nowhere. He listened to the rhythmic pound and splash of the paddle wheels and looked b...

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Dark Canyon (1963)

He glanced around the room. "I haven't seen young Riley in town lately." "No." Just then Dan Shattuck opened the door for Marie and they entered the room, speaking to first one and then another. McCarty, who was at heart a romantic, noted the quick look around by Marie, and her evident disappoint...

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Shalako (1962)

For Seven Days In The Spring Of 1882 The Man Called Shalako heard no sound but the wind.... No sound but the wind, the creak of his saddle, the hoofbeats of his horse. Seven days riding the ghost trails up out of Sonora, down from the Sierra Madre, through Apache country, keeping off the sky line...

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Reilly's Luck (1970)

It was dark and cold, the only light coming from the crack under the ill-fitting door. The boy huddled in the bed, shivered against the cold, listening to the low mutter of voices from the adjoining room. Outside everything was buried in snow. The window was thick with frost, shutting out what li...

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the Shadow Riders (1982)

Hunching his shoulders against the cold, pelting rain, Major Mac Traven slipped a hand under his caped coat to assure himself his spare pistol remained in position. A sudden gust of wind rattled rain upon his campaign hat and spattered his face and hands. Desperately tired and carrying the gnawin...

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the Walking Drum (1984)

Listening, I heard no other sound. My imagination was creating foes where none existed. Only hours ago death had visited this place. This heap of charred ruins had been my home, and a night ago I had lain staring into the darkness of the ceiling, dreaming as always of lands beyond the sea. Now my...

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the Man from Skibbereen (1973)

"Do as he says, and quickly." Seated in the train again, Crispin Mayo leaned his head against the back of the seat and put his hat over his eyes. "Do not disturb me until we're there," he said to Rep, and went to sleep. The whistle whined lonesomely against the dying night, and the steam engine c...

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Killoe (1962)

Pa Came Down To The Breaks Along The Cowhouse Where I Was rousting out some steers that had taken to the brush because of the heel-flies. "Come up to the house, boy. Tap has come home and he is talking of the western lands." So I gathered my rope to a coil and slung it on the pommel of my saddle,...

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No Trouble for the Cactus Kid

They Had To Be. Books could be filled with anecdotes of men, wome n and children who survived under seemingly impossibl e conditions -- survived attacks by enemies, by wild animals , by terrible storms, and hunger, thirst and cold. One o f these was Mrs. Paige. In this space I do not have the roo...

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Dutchmans Flat (Ss) (1986)

At half-past four Krag Moran rode in from the canyon trail, and within ten minutes half the town knew that Ryerson's top gunhand was sitting in front of the Palace. Nobody needed to ask why he was there. It was to be a showdown between Ryerson and the Squaw Creek nesters, and the showdown was to ...

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the Outlaws Of Mesquite (Ss) (1990)

Towering five inches over six feet and weighing no less than two hundred and fifty pounds, he appeared from out of the desert like some suddenly reincarnated primeval giant. He was dirty, not with the dirt of indigence, but with the dust and grime of travel. He smelled of the trail, and his cheek...

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Law Of the Desert Born (Ss) (1984)

To the old-timers, much of what was referred to as the Tonto Basin actually lay outside of it, but it served to specify the locality. It was the scene of several Indian battles, including those General Crook led against the Apaches, but it is better known for the Tonto Basin War between the Tewks...

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Bowdrie's Law (Ss) (1983)

Inside the coach the five passengers had been jounced up and down and side to side as the Concord thundered over the rough trail. The girl with the golden hair and gray eyes who was sitting beside the somber young man in the black flat-crowned hat and black frock coat had bee observing him surrep...

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