Prairie Flowers

Prairie Flowers, by James B. Hendryx

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Title: Prairie Flowers
Author: James B. Hendryx

Release Date: July 30, 2007 [eBook #22180]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PRAIRIE FLOWERS***
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PRAIRIE FLOWERS
by
JAMES B. HENDRYX
Author of "The Gun Brand," "The Promise," "The Texan," "The Gold Girl," etc.

A. L. Burt Company Publishers New York Published by arrangement with G. P. Putnam's Sons
Copyright, 1920 by James B. Hendryx
Made in the United States of America

BY JAMES B. HENDRYX
The Promise The Gun Brand The Texan The Gold Girl Prairie Flowers Snowdrift Connie Morgan in Alaska Connie Morgan with the Mounted Connie Morgan in the Lumber Camps Connie Morgan in the Fur Country
This edition is issued under arrangement with the publishers G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS, NEW YORK AND LONDON The Knickerbocker Press, New York

CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
A PROLOGUE 1
I.--AN ANNIVERSARY 9
II.--KANGAROO COURT 18
III.--THE STAGE ARRIVES 29
IV.--Y BAR COLSTON TALKS 38
V.--ALICE TAKES A RIDE 50
VI.--AT THE RED FRONT 60
VII.--THE TEXAN "COMES A-SHOOTIN'" 68
VIII.--THE ESCAPE 81
IX.--ON THE RIVER 93
X.--JANET MCWHORTER 107
XI.--AT THE MOUTH OF THE COULEE 120
XII.--IN TIMBER CITY 130
XIII.--A MAN ALL BAD 143
XIV.--THE INSURGENT 156
XV.--PURDY MAKES A RIDE 163
XVI.--BIRDS OF A FEATHER 171
XVII.--IN THE SCRUB 182
XVIII.--THE TEXAN TAKES THE TRAIL 188
XIX.--AT MCWHORTER'S RANCH 197
XX.--AT CINNABAR JOE'S 209
XXI.--THE PASSING OF LONG BILL KEARNEY 219
XXII.--CASS GRIMSHAW--HORSE-THIEF 229
XXIII.--CINNABAR JOE TELLS A STORY 239
XXIV.--"ALL FRIENDS TOGETHER" 253
XXV.--JANET PAYS A CALL 267
XXVI.--THE OTHER WOMAN 276
XXVII.--SOME SHOOTING 288
XXVIII.--BACK ON RED SAND 304
AN EPILOGUE 314

Prairie Flowers

A PROLOGUE
The grey roadster purred up the driveway, and Alice Endicott thrust the "home edition" aside and hurried out onto the porch to greet her husband as he stepped around from the garage.
"Did the deal go through?" she asked, as her eyes eagerly sought the eyes of the man who ascended the steps.
"Yes, dear," laughed Endicott, "the deal went through. You see before you a gentleman of elegant leisure--foot-loose, and unfettered--free to roam where the gods will."
"Or will not," laughed his wife, giving him a playful hug. "But, oh, Win, aren't you glad! Isn't it just grand to feel that you don't have to go to the horrible, smoky old city every morning? And don't the soft air, and the young leaves, and the green grass, and the nesting birds make you crazy to get out into the big open places? To get into a saddle and just ride, and ride, and ride? Remember how the sun looked as it rose like a great ball of fire beyond the miles and miles of open bench?"
Endicott grinned: "And how it beat down on us along about noon until we could fairly feel ourselves shrivel----"
"And how it sank to rest behind the mountains. And the long twilight glow. And how the stars came out one by one. And the night came deliciously cool--and how good the blankets felt."
The man's glance rested upon the close-cropped lawn where the grackles and robins were industriously picking up their evening meal. "You love the country out there--you must love it, to remember only the sunrises, and the sunsets, and the stars; and forget the torture of long hours in the saddle and that terrific downpour of rain that burst the reservoir and so nearly cost us our lives, and the dust storm in the bad lands, and that night of horrible thirst. Why those few days we spent in Montana, between the time of the wreck at Wolf River and our wedding at Timber City, were the most tumultuously adventurous days of our lives!"
His wife's eyes were shining: "Wasn't it awful--the suspense and the excitement! And, yet, wasn't it just grand? We'll never forget it as long as we live----"
Endicott smiled grimly: "We never will," he agreed, with emphasis. "A man isn't likely to forget--things like that."
Alice seated herself upon the porch lounge where her husband joined her, and for several minutes they watched a robin divide a fat worm between the scrawny necked fledglings that thrust their ugly mouths above the edge of the nest in the honeysuckle vine close beside them.
"It was nearly a year ago, Win," the girl breathed, softly; "our anniversary is just thirteen days away."
"And you still want to spend it in Timber City?"
"Indeed I do! Why it would just break my heart not to be right there in that ugly little wooden town on that day."
"And you really--seriously--want to live out there?"
"Of course I do! Why wouldn't anyone want to live there? That's real living--with the wonderful air, and the mountains, and the boundless unfenced