The Texican. Coolidge Dane

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      CHAPTER I

       VERDE CROSSING

       Table of Contents

      The languid quiet of midday lay upon the little road-house that stood guard by Verde Crossing. Old Crit and his wild Texas cowboys had left the corral at dawn, riding out mysteriously with their running irons in their chaps; the dogs had crawled under José Garcia's house and gone to sleep; to the north the Tonto trail stretched away vacant and only the brawling of the Verde as it rushed over the rocky ford suggested the savage struggle that was going on in the land. Within the adobe fort that served for both store and saloon Angevine Thorne, Old Crit's roustabout, sat tipped back in his chair breathing thoughtfully through a mouth-organ while a slender Mexican girl, lingering by the doorway, listened in childish adoration.

      "Oyez, Babe," she pleaded, lisping in broken English, "sing 'Work iss Done' for me, otra vez, once more."

      "Yore maw will be singin' a different tune if you don't hurry home with that lard," counselled Babe, but seeing that she was in no mood to depart he cleared his throat to sing. "You don't know how bad this makes me feel, Marcelina," he said, rubbing his hand over his bald spot and smoothing down his lank hair, "but I'll sing you the first verse—it ain't so bad." He stood up and turned his eyes to heaven; a seraphic smile came into his face, as if he saw the angels, and in a caressing tenor voice he began:—

      "A jolly group of cowboys, discussing their plans one day

      When one says, 'I will tell you something, boys, before I'm gone away.

      I am a cowboy as you see, although I'm dressed in rags.

      I used to be a wild one, a-taking on big jags.

      I have a home, boys, a good one, you all know,

      Although I have not seen it since long ago.

      I am going back to Dixie, once for to see them all;

      I am going back to Dixie to see my mother when work is done this Fall.

      "'After the round-ups are over, after the shipping is all done,

      I am going to see my mother before my money is all gone.

      My mother's heart is breaking, breaking for me, and that's all.

      And with God's help I will see her when work is СКАЧАТЬ