The Project Gutenberg EBook of Brand Blotters, by William MacLeod Raine This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org Title: Brand Blotters Author: William MacLeod Raine Illustrator: Clarence Rowe Release Date: December 7, 2008 [EBook #27436] Language: English *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRAND BLOTTERS *** Produced by Roger Frank and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net “WHO ARE YOU?” “WATER!” HE GASPED Page 20 BRAND BLOTTERS BY WILLIAM MACLEOD RAINE AUTHOR OF WYOMING, BUCKY O’CONNOR, MAVERICKS, A TEXAS RANGER, RIDGWAY OF MONTANA, ETC ILLUSTRATIONS BY CLARENCE ROWE GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS NEW YORK Made in the United States of America Copyright, 1909, by J B LIPPINCOTT CO Copyright, 1911, by STREET & SMITH COPYRIGHT, 1912, BY G W DILLINGHAM COMPANY Brand Blotters TO FRANK N SPINDLER In Memory of Certain Sunday Afternoon Tramps Long Ago, During Which We Solved the Problems of the Nation CONTENTS PART I MELISSY OF THE BAR DOUBLE G CHAPTER I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV PAGE A CROSSED TRAIL BRAND BLOTTING AN ACCUSATION THE MAN WITH THE CHIHUAHUA HAT THE TENDERFOOT TAKES UP A CLAIM ”HANDS UP” WATERING SHEEP THE BOONE-BELLAMY FEUD IS RENEWED THE DANGER LINE JACK GOES TO THE HEAD OF THE CLASS A CONVERSATION THE TENDERFOOT MAKES A PROPOSITION OLD ACQUAINTANCES CONCERNING THE BOONE-BELLAMY-YARNELL FEUD 11 18 35 49 61 75 98 109 121 141 156 163 182 191 PART II Dead MAN’S CACHE CHAPTER I II III IV V VI PAGE KIDNAPPED A CAPTURE THE TABLES TURNED THE REAL BUCKY AND THE FALSE A PHOTOGRAPH IN DEAD MAN’S CACHE 199 209 217 231 243 255 VII VIII IX X XI XII XIII XIV “TRAPPED!” AN ESCAPE AND A CAPTURE A BARGAIN THE PRICE SQUIRE LATIMER TAKES A HAND THE TAKING OF THE CACHE MELISSY ENTERTAINS BLACK MACQUEEN CASHES HIS CHECKS 266 276 286 301 306 322 334 340 PART I MELISSY OF THE BAR DOUBLE G 11 CHAPTER I A CROSSED TRAIL The tenderfoot rose from the ledge upon which he had been lying and stretched himself stiffly The chill of the long night had set him shivering His bones ached from the pressure of his body upon the rock where he had slept and waked and dozed again with troubled dreams The sharpness of his hunger made him lightheaded Thirst tortured him His throat was a lime-kiln, his tongue swollen till it filled his mouth If the night had been bad, he knew the day would be a hundred times worse Already a gray light was sifting into the hollow of the sky The vague misty outlines of the mountains were growing sharper Soon from a crotch of them would rise a red hot cannon ball to pour its heat into the parched desert He was headed for the Sonora line, for the hills where he had heard a man might drop out of sight of the civilization that had once known him There were 12 reasons why he had started in a hurry, without a horse or food or a canteen, and these same reasons held good why he could not follow beaten tracks All yesterday he had traveled without sighting a ranch or meeting a human being But he knew he must get to water soon—if he were to reach it at all A light breeze was stirring, and on it there was borne to him a faint rumble as of thunder Instantly the man came to a rigid alertness Thunder might mean rain, and rain would be salvation But the sound did not die away Instead, it deepened to a steady roar, growing every instant louder His startled glance swept the cañon that drove like a sword cleft into the hills Pouring down it, with the rush of a tidal wave, came a wall of cattle, a thousand backs tossing up and down as the swell of a troubled sea Though he had never seen one before, the man on the lip of the gulch knew that he was watching a cattle stampede Under the impact of the galloping hoofs the ground upon which he stood quaked A cry diverted his attention From the bed of the sandy wash a man had started up and was running for his life toward the cañon walls Before he had taken half 13