The Ridin Kid from Powder River

Ridin' Kid from Powder River,
by Henry Herbert Knibbs

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Title: The Ridin' Kid from Powder River
Author: Henry Herbert Knibbs
Illustrator: Stanley L. Wood and R. M. Brinkerhoff
Release Date: August 14, 2005 [EBook #16530]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RIDIN'
KID FROM POWDER RIVER ***

Produced by Al Haines

[Frontispiece: The Ridin' Kid]

THE RIDIN' KID FROM POWDER RIVER
By
HENRY HERBERT KNIBBS

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS

BOSTON AND NEW YORK.
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
1919

COPYRIGHT, 1919, BY HENRY HERBERT KNIBBS
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

CONTENTS
I. YOUNG PETE II. FIREARMS AND NEW FORTUNES III. A
WARNING IV. JUSTICE V. A CHANGE OF BASE VI. NEW
VISTAS VII. PLANS VIII. SOME BOOKKEEPING IX.
ROWDY--AND BLUE SMOKE X. "TURN HIM LOOSE!" XI. POP
ANNERSLEY'S BOY XII. IN THE PIT XIII. GAME XIV. THE
KITTY-CAT XV. FOUR MEN XVI. THE OPEN HOLSTER XVII. A
FALSE TRAIL XVIII. THE BLACK SOMBRERO XIX. THE
SPIDER XX. BULL MALVEY XXI. BOCA DULZURA XXII. "A
DRESS--OR A RING--PERHAPS" XXIII. THE DEVIL-WIND XXIV.
"A RIDER STOOD AT THE LAMPLIT BAR" XXV.
"PLANTED--OUT THERE" XXVI. THE OLLA XXVII. OVER THE
LINE XXVIII. A GAMBLE XXIX. QUERY XXX. BRENT'S
MISTAKE XXXI. FUGITIVE XXXII. EL PASO XXXIII. THE

SPIDER'S ACCOUNT XXXIV. DORIS XXXV. "CAUGHT IT JUST
IN TIME" XXXVI. WHITE-EYE XXXVII. "CLOSE THE CASES"
XXXVIII. GETTING ACQUAINTED XXXIX. A PUZZLE GAME
XL. THE MAN DOWNSTAIRS XLI. "A LAND FAMILIAR" XLII.
"OH, SAY TWO THOUSAND" XLIII. A NEW HAT--A NEW TRAIL
XLIV. THE OLD TRAIL XLV. HOME FOLKS XLVI. THE RIDIN'
KID FROM POWDER RIVER

ILLUSTRATIONS
THE RIDIN' KID . . . . Colored Frontispiece
Drawn by Stanley L. Wood

"SAY, AIN'T WE PARDNERS?"
PETE
COTTON HEARD PETE'S HAND STRIKE THE BUTT OF HIS
GUN AS THE HOLSTER TILTED UP
"OF A TRUTH, NO!" SAID BOCA, AND SHE SWUNG THE
BOTTLE
Drawn by R. M. Brinkerhoff

The Ridin' Kid from Powder River
CHAPTER I
YOUNG PETE
With the inevitable pinto or calico horse in his string the horse-trader
drifted toward the distant town of Concho, accompanied by a lazy

cloud of dust, a slat-ribbed dog, and a knock-kneed foal that insisted on
getting in the way of the wagon team. Strung out behind this indolently
moving aggregation of desert adventurers plodded an indifferent lot of
cayuses, their heads lowered and their eyes filled with dust.
Young Pete, perched on a saddle much too large for him, hazed the
tired horses with a professional "Hi! Yah! Git in there, you doggone,
onnery, three-legged pole-cat you!" A gratuitous command, for the
three-legged pole-cat referred to had no other ambition than to shuffle
wearily along behind the wagon in the hope that somewhere ahead was
good grazing, water, and chance shade.
The trader was lean, rat-eyed, and of a vicious temper. Comparatively,
the worst horse in his string was a gentleman. Horse-trading and
whiskey go arm-in-arm, accompanied by their copartners, profanity and
tobacco-chewing. In the right hand of the horse-trader is guile and in
his left hand is trickery. And this squalid, slovenly-booted, and
sombrero'd gentleman of the outlands lived down to and even beneath
all the vicarious traditions of his kind, a pariah of the waste places,
tolerated in the environs of this or that desert town chiefly because of
Young Pete, who was popular, despite the fact that he bartered
profanely for chuck at the stores, picketed the horses in pasturage
already preempted by the natives, watered the horses where water was
scarce and for local consumption only, and lied eloquently as to the
qualities of his master's caviayard when a trade was in progress. For
these manful services Young Pete received scant rations and much
abuse.
Pete had been picked up in the town of Enright, where no one seemed
to have a definite record of his immediate ancestry. He was quite
willing to go with the trader, his only stipulation being that he be
allowed to bring along his dog, another denizen of Enright whose
ancestry was as vague as were his chances of getting a square meal a
day. Yet the dog, despite lean rations, suffered less than Young Pete,
for the dog trusted no man. Consequently he was just out of reach when
the trader wanted to kick something. Young Pete was not always so
fortunate. But he was not altogether unhappy. He had responsibilities,

especially when the trader was drunk and the horses needed attention.
Pete learned much