The Dude Wrangler

"Wallie swung the frying pan with all his strength ... knocking the six-shooter from Boise Bill's hand as he jumped across the fire at him" THE DUDE WRANGLER BY CAROLINE LOCKHART FRONTISPIECE BY DUDLEY GLYNE SUMMERS GARDEN CITY, N. Y., AND TORONTO DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY 1921 COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED, INCLUDING THAT OF TRANSLATION INTO FOREIGN LANGUAGES, INCLUDING THE SCANDINAVIAN COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY STREET & SMITH CORPORATION Contents PAGE I The Girl From Wyoming 3 II "The Happy Family" 10 III Pinkey 18 IV The Brand of Cain 24 V "Gentle Annie" 33 VI "Burning His Bridges" 42 VII His "Gat" 47 VIII Neighbours 62 IX Cutting His Eyeteeth 69 X The Best Pulling Team in the State 81 XI Merry Christmas 92 XII The Water Witch 112 XIII Wiped Out 131 XIV Lifting a Cache 142 XV Collecting a Bad Debt 156 XVI The Exodus 168 XVII Counting Their Chickens 176 XVIII The Millionaires 182 XIX A Shock For Mr. Canby 196 XX Wallie Qualifies As a First-Class Hero 207 XXI "Worman! Worman!" 221 XXII "Knocking 'Em For a Curve" 231 XXIII Rifts 247 XXIV Hicks the Avenger 261 XXV "And Just Then——" 301 THE DUDE WRANGLER THE GIRL FROM WYOMING Conscious that something had disturbed him, Wallie Macpherson raised himself on his elbow in bed to listen. For a full minute he heard nothing unusual: the Atlantic breaking against the sea-wall at the foot of the sloping lawn of The Colonial, the clock striking the hour in the tower of the Court House, and the ripping, tearing, slashing noises like those of a sash-and-blind factory, produced through the long, thin nose of old Mr. Penrose, two doors down the hotel corridor, all sounds to which he was too accustomed to be awakened by them. While Wallie remained in this posture conjecturing, the door between the room next to him and that of Mr. Penrose was struck smartly several times, and with a vigour to denote that there was temper behind the blows which fell upon it. He had not known that the room was occupied; being considered undesirable on account of the audible slumbers of the old gentleman it was often vacant. The raps finally awakened even Mr. Penrose, who demanded sharply: "What are you doing?" "Hammering with the heel of my slipper," a feminine voice answered. "What do you want?"…