Laramie Holds the Range

Laramie Holds the Range, by
Frank H.

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Title: Laramie Holds the Range
Author: Frank H. Spearman

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Language: English
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LARAMIE HOLDS THE RANGE
by
FRANK H. SPEARMAN
Illustrated by James Reynolds

[Frontispiece: "Hold on, Doubleday," Laramie said bluntly, . . . "You'll
hear what I've got to say"]

New York Charles Scribner's Sons 1921
Copyright, 1921, by Charles Scribner's Sons
Published August, 1921 Reprinted September, 1921
Copyright, 1921, by Frank H. Spearman

TO MY SON
FRANK HAMILTON SPEARMAN, JR.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I

SLEEPY CAT II THE CRAZY WOMAN III DOUBLEDAY'S IV AT
THE EATING HOUSE V CROSS PURPOSES VI WHICH WINS?
VII THE CLOSE OF THE DAY VIII THE HOME OF LARAMIE IX
AT THE BAR X LARAMIE COUNTS FIVE XI A DUEL WITH
KATE XII THE BARBECUE XIII AGAINST HIS RECORD XIV
LEFEVER ASKS QUESTIONS XV THE RAID OF THE FALLING
WALL XVI THE GO-DEVIL XVII VAN HORN TRAILS HAWK
XVIII HAWK QUARRELS WITH LARAMIE XIX LEFEVER
RECEIVES THE RAIDERS XX THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE XXI THE
HIDING PLACE XXII STONE TRIES HIS HAND XXIII KATE
RIDES XXIV NIGHT AND A HEADER XXV A GUEST FOR AN
HOUR XXVI THE CRAZY WOMAN WINS XXVII KATE DEFIES
XXVIII A DIFFICULT RESOLVE XXIX HORSEHEAD PASS XXX
THE FUNERAL AND AFTER XXXI AN ENCOUNTER XXXII A
MESSAGE FROM TENISON XXXIII THE CANYON OF THE
FALLING WALL XXXIV KATE GETS A SHOCK XXXV AT
KITCHEN'S BARN XXXVI MCALPIN AT BAY XXXVII KATE
BURNS THE STEAK XXXVIII THE UNEXPECTED CALL XXXIX
BARB MAKES A SURPRISING ALLIANCE XL BRADLEY RIDES
HARD XLI THE FLIGHT OF THE SWALLOWS XLII WARNING
XLIII THE LAST CALL XLIV TENISON SERVES BREAKFAST

ILLUSTRATIONS
"Hold on, Doubleday," Laramie said bluntly, . . . "You'll hear what I've
got to say" . . . . . . Frontispiece
"And I thought I knew every drop of water in this country"
Knocked forward the next instant in his saddle, Laramie drooped over
his pommel
"No," said a man . . . as he pushed forward . . . "He's not going to
drink!"

LARAMIE HOLDS THE RANGE
CHAPTER I
SLEEPY CAT
All day the heavy train of sleepers had been climbing the long rise from
the river--a monotonous stretch of treeless, short-grass plains reaching
from the Missouri to the mountains. And now the train stopped again,
almost noiselessly.
Kate, with the impatience of girlish spirits tried by a long and tedious
car journey, left her Pullman window and its continuous, one-tone
picture, and walking forward was glad to find the vestibule open. The
porter, meditating alone, stood below, at the car step, looking ahead;
Kate joined him.
The stop had been made at a lonely tank, for water. No human
habitation was anywhere in sight. The sun had set. For miles in every
direction the seemingly level and open country spread around her. She
looked back to the darkening east that she was leaving behind. It
suggested nothing of interest beyond the vanishing perspective of a
long track tangent. Then to the north, whence blew a cool and gentle
wind, but the landscape offered nothing attractive to her eyes; its
receding horizon told no new story. Then she looked into the west.
They had told her she should not see the Rockies until morning. But the
dying light in the west brought a moving surprise. In the dreamy
afterglow of the evening sky there rose, far beyond the dusky plain, the
faint but certain outline of distant mountain peaks.
Bathed in a soft unearthly light, like the purple of another world;
touched here and there by a fairy gold; silent as dreams, majestic as
visions, overwhelming as reality itself, Kate gazed on them with
beating heart.
Something clutched at her breath: "Are those the Rocky Mountains?"
she suddenly asked, appealing to the stolid porter. She told Belle long

afterward, she knew her voice must have quivered.
"Ah'm sure, Ah c'dn't say, Miss. Ah s'pecs dey ah. Dis my first trip out
here."
"So it is mine!"
"Mah reg'lar run," continued the porter, insensible to the glories of the
distant sky, "is f'm Chicago to Council Bluffs."
A flagman hurried past.