登陆注册
16113900000001

第1章 HOW TROUBLE CAME TO THE LAZY A(1)

Without going into a deep,psychological discussion of the elements in men's souls that breed events,we may say with truth that the Lazy A ranch was as other ranches in the smooth tenor of its life until one day in June,when the finger of fate wrote bold and black across the face of it the word that blotted out prosperity,content,warm family ties,--all those things that go to make life worth while.

Jean,sixteen and a range girl to the last fiber of her being,had gotten up early that morning and had washed the dishes and swept,and had shaken the rugs of the little living-room most vigorously.On her knees,with stiff brush and much soapy water,she had scrubbed the kitchen floor until the boards dried white as kitchen floors may be.She had baked a loaf of gingerbread,that came from the oven with a most delectable odor,and had wrapped it in a clean cloth to cool on the kitchen table.Her dad and Lite Avery would show cause for the baking of it when they sat down,fresh washed and ravenous,to their supper that evening.Imention Jean and her scrubbed kitchen and the gingerbread by way of proving how the Lazy A went unwarned and unsuspecting to the very brink of its disaster.

Lite Avery,long and lean and silently content with life,had ridden away with a package of sandwiches,after a full breakfast and a smile from the slim girl who cooked it,upon the business of the day;which happened to be a long ride with one of the Bar Nothing riders,down in the breaks along the river.Jean's father,big Aleck Douglas,had saddled and ridden away alone upon business of his own.And presently,in mid-forenoon,Jean closed the kitchen door upon an immaculately clean house filled with the warm,fragrant odor of her baking,and in fresh shirt waist and her best riding-skirt and Stetson,went whistling away down the path to the stable,and saddled Pard,the brown colt that Lite had broken to the saddle for her that spring.

In ten minutes or so she went galloping down the coulee and out upon the trail to town,which was fifteen miles away and held a chum of hers.

So Lazy A coulee was left at peace,with scratching hens busy with the feeding of half-feathered chicks,and a rooster that crowed from the corral fence seven times without stopping to take breath.In the big corral a sorrel mare nosed her colt and nibbled abstractedly at the pile of hay in one corner,while the colt wabbled aimlessly up and sniffed curiously and then turned to inspect the rails that felt so queer and hard when he rubbed his nose against them.The sun was warm,and cloud-shadows drifted lazily across the coulee with the breeze that blew from the west.You never would dream that this was the last day,--the last few hours even,--when the Lazy A would be the untroubled home of three persons of whose lives it formed so great a part.

At noon the hens were hovering their chickens in the shade of the mower which Lite was overhauling during his spare time,getting it ready for the hay that was growing apace out there in the broad mouth of the coulee.The rooster was wallowing luxuriously in a dusty spot in the corral.The young colt lay stretched out on the fat of its side in the sun,sound asleep.The sorrel mare lay beside it,asleep also,with her head thrown up against her shoulder.Somewhere in a shed a calf was bawling in bored lonesomeness away from its mother feeding down the pasture.And over all the coulee and the buildings nestled against the bluff at its upper end was spread that atmosphere of homey comfort and sheltered calm which surrounds always a home that is happy.

Lite Avery,riding toward home just when the shadows were beginning to grow long behind him,wondered if Jean would be back by the time he reached the ranch.He hoped so,with a vague distaste at finding the place empty of her cheerful presence.Be looked at his watch;it was nearly four o'clock.She ought to be home by half-past four or five,anyway.He glanced sidelong at Jim and quietly slackened his pace a little.

Jim was telling one of those long,rambling tales of the little happenings of a narrow life,and Lite was supposed to be listening instead of thinking about when Jean would return home.Jim believed he was listening,and drove home the point of his story.

"Yes,sir,them's his very words.Art Osgood heard him.He'll do it,too,take it from me,Crofty is shore riled up this time.""Always is,"Lite observed,without paying much attention."I'll turn off here,Jim,and cut across.

Got some work I want to get done yet to-night.So long."He swung away from his companion,whose trail to the Bar Nothing led him straight west,passing the Lazy A coulee well out from its mouth,toward the river.

Lite could save a half mile by bearing off to the north and entering the coulee at the eastern side and riding up through the pasture.He wanted to see how the grass was coming on,anyway.The last rain should have given it a fresh start.

He was in no great hurry,after all;he had merely been bored with Jim's company and wanted to go on alone.And then he could get the fire started for Jean.Lite's life was running very smoothly indeed;so smoothly that his thoughts occupied themselves largely with little things,save when they concerned themselves with Jean,who had been away to school for a year and had graduated from "high,"as she called it,just a couple of weeks ago,and had come home to keep house for dad and Lite.The novelty of her presence on the ranch was still fresh enough to fill his thoughts with her slim attractiveness.Town hadn't spoiled her,he thought glowingly.She was the same good little pal,--only she was growing up pretty fast,now.She was a young lady already.

So,thinking of her with the brightening of spirits which is the first symptom of the world-old emotion called love,Lite rounded the eastern arm of the bluff and came within sight of the coulee spread before him,shaped like the half of a huge platter with a high rim of bluff on three sides.

同类推荐
  • Ballads and Poems

    Ballads and Poems

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 新镌绣像麴头陀济颠全传

    新镌绣像麴头陀济颠全传

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • WAVERLEY

    WAVERLEY

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 落花

    落花

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 蒲江词

    蒲江词

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 翻滚吧!作业妃!

    翻滚吧!作业妃!

    【本文纯属娱乐】古代,我有很多妃子,手机妃,作业妃!太后老皇帝(家长),丞相(老师)则监督我上早朝这些……现代,不愿上学,不想做作业,也不想学习,和家长老师誓死抵抗,还原苦逼学生党的生活!其实——这是一个古代皇帝识破小三作业的重重阴谋,与手机,iPad,电脑追寻爱情的故事注:每章古代完,都有现代的翻译!【纯属消遣,不喜勿喷!】
  • 纵横之无上逍遥

    纵横之无上逍遥

    看一平凡都市少年如何逍遥人世提一把黑刀他不服输斗鬼降妖不服输他驾驭荒古凶兽不服输他斗天屠神他逍遥他放荡不羁快意恩仇
  • 龙笑九霄

    龙笑九霄

    一个传承龙眼的上古家族,到了桀骜不驯的齐少天这一代,原本只是平凡的中学,却莫名其妙的被卷入了一场仙魔浩劫之中...齐少天又会谱写出什么样的仙魔传奇来呢?——敬请观看:龙啸九霄!
  • 妖尾之叫我女王大人

    妖尾之叫我女王大人

    屠龙,看似困难,只要有伙伴,我无所不能。我是站在剑士顶端的存在,亦是最强大的换装魔导士。——献给我们爱过的女鬼剑。
  • 梦泪痕

    梦泪痕

    梦也狂生耳。偶然间,缁尘乌龙,乌衣门第。幸遇良师.手握短剑,有酒惟浇凡四天,谁会成生此意。不信道、遂成知己。青眼高歌俱未老,向樽前、拭尽英雄泪。君不见,月如水。一生忐忑,被七情所困,六欲所拖。只待一朝,灭天毁地,一路逍歌。巅峰处,方知世间本是梦。
  • 星石纪

    星石纪

    茫茫宇宙中,一颗裹着浓烈火光的彗星向着地球飞来。轰然坠落地球,地球迎来了进化的新纪元。星石纪!“都说乱世出英雄,没错就是我。”林霖。
  • 天下势如棋

    天下势如棋

    一场穿越,让他们相遇,一次美丽的邂逅,却让他们彼此忘不了……
  • 霸道老公:悄悄深爱小爱妻

    霸道老公:悄悄深爱小爱妻

    她不是命不太好,亲爹不疼后娘不爱吗?弟弟也不喜欢自己,连婚姻都是被迫联姻,那么老公也一定不爱她。但怎么回事?她只是不按时吃饭都能引起他的重视。弟弟嫌她婚姻不幸,怂恿她离婚他却大发雷霆。“老公,你不是不爱我吗?”“我天天关心你有没有按时吃饭,街逛得开不开心,卡刷得痛不痛快,你说我爱不爱你?”“这个……还是你说吧。”“那我就告诉你,女人!和我离婚这件事你想都不要想!你永远都别想要从我身边离开!”
  • 人生哲理枕边书3

    人生哲理枕边书3

    书中充满了智慧、温暖人心和震撼心灵的故事和哲理。能够激发我们的灵感,涤荡我们的心灵,丰富我们的经验,升华我们的人生。 谨以本书献给各行各业、不同年龄、愿意通过学习和自己的努力迅速改善人生境遇的人。 要想让人生充实一点,让生活质量高一点,让职场生活丰富一点,为人处世潇洒一点,就要时刻把本书放在枕边,不断从中吸取经验、智慧和力量。
  • 忆前世念今生

    忆前世念今生

    忆前世念今生(歌曲)莫雨嫣,墨夜辰两人是一对鸳鸯黄昏走在古道间拉着手夜辰门前歌声悠扬原来是雨嫣在歌唱我爱你,你爱我这是两人的共识早已心有灵犀无需言状忽然夜辰拉走雨嫣要对她说出心中话其实呢,本就是天注定我们就该在一起无论那些路人甲如何去阻挡我们的婚礼来到长长的婚纱穿几遍半遮娇颜的雨嫣遍地摇曳的蔷薇在心间人面桃花醉人笑长长的红毯走几遍夜辰嘴角余的弯十指相扣的新人在身边白云深处歌声远莫雨嫣,墨夜辰两人是一对鸳鸯黄昏走在古道间拉着手夜辰门前歌声悠扬原来是雨嫣在歌唱我爱你,你爱我这是两人的共识早已心有灵犀无需言状忽然夜辰拉走雨嫣要对她说出心中话其实呢,本就是天注定我们就该在一起无论那些路人甲如何去阻挡我们的婚礼来到长长的婚纱穿几遍半遮娇颜的雨嫣遍地摇曳的蔷薇在心间人面桃花醉人笑长长的红毯走几遍夜辰嘴角余的弯十指相扣的新人在身边白云深处歌声远长长的婚纱穿几遍半遮娇颜的雨嫣遍地摇曳的蔷薇在心间人面桃花醉人笑长长的红毯走几遍夜辰嘴角余的弯十指相扣的新人在身边白云深处歌声远