{"product_id":"2940013562226","title":"Ruth Fielding At Silver Ranch OR SCHOOLGIRLS AMONG THE COWBOYS","description":"CHAPTER I—“OLD TROUBLE-MAKER”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWhere the Silver Ranch trail branches from the state road leading down\u003cbr\u003einto Bullhide, there stretch a rambling series of sheds, or “shacks,”\u003cbr\u003egiven up to the uses of a general store and provision emporium; beside\u003cbr\u003eit is the schoolhouse. This place on the forked trails is called “The\u003cbr\u003eCrossing,” and it was the only place nearer than the town of Bullhide\u003cbr\u003ewhere the scattered population of this part of Montana could get any\u003cbr\u003esupplies.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eOne of Old Bill Hicks’ herds was being grazed on that piece of rolling\u003cbr\u003ecountry, lying in the foothills, right behind the Crossing, and two of\u003cbr\u003ehis cow punchers had ridden in for tobacco. Being within sight of rows\u003cbr\u003eupon rows of tinned preserves (the greatest luxury extant to the cowboy\u003cbr\u003emind), and their credit being good with Lem Dickson, who kept the store,\u003cbr\u003ethe two cattle herders—while their cayuses stood with drooping heads,\u003cbr\u003etheir bridle-reins on the road before them—each secured a can of\u003cbr\u003epeaches, and sitting cross-legged on the porch before the store, opened\u003cbr\u003ethe cans with their knives and luxuriated in the contents.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Old man’s nigh due, ain’t he?” asked Lem, the storekeeper, lowering\u003cbr\u003ehimself into a comfortable armchair that he kept for his own particular\u003cbr\u003euse on the porch.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Gittin’ to Bullhide this mawnin’,” drawled one of the cowboys. “An’\u003cbr\u003ehe’s got what he went for, too.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Bill Hicks most usually does git what he goes after, don’t he?”\u003cbr\u003eretorted the storekeeper.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe other puncher chuckled. “This time Old Bill come near goin’ out\u003cbr\u003eafter _rabbit_ an’ only bringin’ back the _hair_,” he said. “Jane Ann is\u003cbr\u003ejust as much of a Hicks as Bill himself—you take it from me. She made\u003cbr\u003eher bargain b’fore Old Bill got her headed back to the ranch, I reckon.\u003cbr\u003eThar’s goin’ to be more newfangled notions at Silver Ranch from now on\u003cbr\u003ethan you kin shake a stick at. You hear me!”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Old Bill can stand scattering a little money around as well as any man\u003cbr\u003ein this State,” Lem said, ruminatively. “He’s made it; he’s saved it;\u003cbr\u003enow he might’s well l’arn to spend some of it.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“And he’s begun. Jane Ann’s begun for him, leastways,” said one of the\u003cbr\u003ecowboys. “D’ye know what Mulvey brought out on his wagon last Sat’day?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“I knowed he looked like pitchers of ‘movin’ day’ in New York City, or\u003cbr\u003eChicago, when he passed along yere,” grunted the storekeeper. “Eight\u003cbr\u003ehead o’ mules he was drivin’.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“He sure was,” agreed the cow puncher. “There was all sorts of trucks\u003cbr\u003eand gew-gaws. But the main thing was a pinanner.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A piano?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“That’s what I said. And that half-Injun, Jib Pottoway, says he kin play\u003cbr\u003eon the thing. But it ain’t to be unboxed till the boss and Jane Ann\u003cbr\u003ecomes.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“And they’ll be gittin’ along yere some time to-day,” said the other\u003cbr\u003ecowboy, throwing his empty tin away. “And when they come, Lem, they’re\u003cbr\u003esure goin’ to surprise yuh.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“What with?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“With what they sail by yere in,” drawled the puncher.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Huh? what’s eatin’ on you, Bud? Old Bill ain’t bought an airship, has\u003cbr\u003ehe?”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Mighty nigh as bad,” chuckled the other. “He’s bought Doosenberry’s big\u003cbr\u003eautomobile, I understand, and Jane Ann’s brought a bunch of folks with\u003cbr\u003eher that she met down East, and they’re just about goin’ to tear the\u003cbr\u003evitals out o’ Silver Ranch—now you hear me!”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“A steam wagon over these trails!” grunted the storekeeper. “Waal!”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“And wait till Old Bill sees a bunch of his steers go up in the air when\u003cbr\u003ethey sets eyes on the choo-choo wagon,” chuckled Bud. “That’ll about\u003cbr\u003efinish the automobile business, I bet yuh!”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“Come on, Bud!” shouted his mate, already astride his pony.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe two cowboys were off and lashing their ponies to a sharp run in half\u003cbr\u003ea minute. Scarcely had they disappeared behind a grove of scrub trees on\u003cbr\u003ethe wind-swept ridge beyond the store when the honk of an automobile\u003cbr\u003ehorn startled the slow-motioned storekeeper out of his chair.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47079578206448,"sku":"2940013562226","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013562226_p0.jpg?v=1763582797","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013562226","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}