The Bad Man

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Bad Man, The

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Title: The Bad Man
Author: Charles Hanson Towne

Release Date: October 30, 2005 [eBook #16968]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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THE BAD MAN
A Novel
by
CHARLES HANSON TOWNE
Based on the Play by Porter Emerson Browne

G. P. Putnam's Sons New York and London The Knickerbocker Press
1921
Copyright, 1921, by G. P. Putnam's Sons Printed in the United States of America

[Illustration: HOLBROOK BLINN AS "THE BAD MAN."]

To
HOLBROOK BLINN

CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I.
--Wherein it is shown that a young American had the courage to come into a new country; how fate played against him, and a neighbor looked longingly at his ranch
II.--Wherein, far away, another man hears whispers of the wealth along the border, and comes down to see about it
III.--Wherein Uncle Henry speaks his mind--as usual
IV.--Wherein "Red" reveals his heart, and Mrs. Quinn gives him good coffee and good advice
V.--Wherein Gilbert Jones is worried, and Lucia Pell is asked to do an impossible thing
VI.--Wherein an old love awakens, Pell reveals his true colors, a mortgage is about to be foreclosed, the contents of a satchel are made known, Uncle Henry springs a sensation, and Pell takes an option
VII.--Wherein Lucia sees treachery brewing, Pell proves himself a brute, and an unexpected guest appears
VIII.--Wherein the bandit expounds a new philosophy, and makes marionettes of the Americans
IX.--Wherein Uncle Henry chatters some more, there is an auction, and things look black indeed
X.--Wherein an old friendship comes to life, Lopez learns a thing or two, and finally makes a match
XI.--Wherein a man proves himself a craven, a shot rings out, and the bad man explains one little hour
XII.--Wherein the bad man cannot understand the good man, and disappears; and a dead man stirs
XIII.--Wherein an old situation seems about to be repeated, another shot is fired, and the bad man comes back
XIV.--Wherein an old friend returns, and there is a joyful reunion

THE BAD MAN
CHAPTER I
WHEREIN IT IS SHOWN THAT A YOUNG AMERICAN HAD THE COURAGE TO COME INTO A NEW COUNTRY; HOW FATE PLAYED AGAINST HIM, AND A NEIGHBOR LOOKED LONGINGLY AT HIS RANCH
Looking back now, after so many months of struggle and foreboding, he wondered how he had ever had the high courage to come to this strange country. Had he been a few years older he would not have started forth--he was sure of that now. But the flame of youth was in him, the sure sense that he could conquer where others had miserably failed; and, like all virile young Americans, he had love of adventure, and zest for the unknown was in his blood. The glamour of Arizona lured him; the color of these great hills and mountains he had come to love captivated him from the first. It was as if a siren beckoned, and he had to follow.
For days he had been worried almost to the breaking point. Things had not shaped themselves as he had planned. Event piled upon event, and now disaster--definite disaster--threatened to descend upon him.
All morning, despite the intense heat, he had been about the ranch, appraising this and that, mentally; pottering in the shed; looking at his horses--the few that were left!--smiling at the thought of his wheezing Ford, wondering just when he would clear out altogether.
Not that young Gilbert Jones was a pessimist. And yet he wasn't one of those damnable Pollyanna optimists he so abominated--the kind who went about saying continually that God was in His heaven and all was right with the world. No, indeed! He was just a normal, regular fellow, ready to face a difficult situation when it came about as the natural result of a series of events. He saw the impending catastrophe as the logical finale of many happenings--for some of which he was not in any way responsible.
Who could have foreseen the Great War, for instance? Surely that was not his fault! A pitiful archduke was murdered in a European city. He remembered reading about it, and then instantly dismissing it from his mind as of no consequence. He never connected himself with so remote an event. Yet a few years later he, with many others, was fighting in France--a lieutenant in the United States Army--just because a shot had been fired at a man he had never heard of!
A strange world, he pondered, as he