Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Chapter twelve of Alcatraz by Max Brand. This LibriVox recording is in the public
domain. From the hip, Shortyrode for the bunk house instead of the
corrals, and tumbling out of thesaddle, he staggered through the door.
Inside, the cowpunchers sat about andjoining a before dinner's smoke and the coolness
(00:24):
which the evening wash had brought totheir wind parched skins. Shorty reeled through
the midst of them to his bunkand collapsed upon it. Not a man
stirred, not an eye followed him, no matter what curiosity was burning in
their vitals. Etiquette demanded that theyask no questions if in no otherwise the
(00:46):
Indian has left his stamp on thecountry. In the manners of the Western
riders. In the meantime, Shortylay on his back with his arms flung
out crosswise, his eyes closed,his breath expelled with a moan, and
drawn in with a rattle. Slim, he called at length. Slim raised
(01:07):
his little freckled face, which wassupported by a neck of uncanny length,
and he blinked unconcernedly at his bunkie. He and Shorty were inseparable companions.
Take the saddle off my horse andput her up, groaned the Shorty,
I'm dead beat. Maybe you've beenchasing Paris on foot, observed lew Hervey.
(01:30):
Direct questions were still not in order, but often a man could be
taunted into speech. Damn Paris anddamn him black, retorted Shorty, opening
his eyes with a snap and lettinga glance blaze into space. Of all
the leather skinned, mule muscled,wrong headed gents I ever seen, he's
(01:52):
the outlastinesst. You sure got yourvocabulary all warmed up, observed Little Joe,
so called because of two hundred poundsof iron, hard sinew and muscle
Slim, was wandering towards the doorto execute his mission, but he kept
his head cocked towards his prostrated friendto learn as much as possible before he
(02:15):
left, which I disremember, wenton little Joe, thoughtfully of you,
ever putting so many words together withoutcussing. Paris must have given you some
Bible study down the Gloucesterville. Itbrought Shorty up on one bulging elbow,
and he glared at little Joe.Bible, snorted Shorty. His idea of
(02:37):
a Bible is fifty two cards.And a joker. He does his praying
with one foot on a foot rail. He'll sure fit in fine here,
drawed little Joe. What with agirl for our boss and a hired horse
catcher. None of us been goodenough to take the job. We all
will get a mighty fine rep aroundthese parts. He'd done yourself proud bringing
(03:00):
him up here. Shorty. Laugh, damn you, said Shorty. Heeded
to such a point that he halfforgot his exhaustion. You ain't been through
what I've been through. You ain'tmad enough to have lasted. The imputation
sobered Little Joe, and he shruggedhis massive shoulders significantly. Shorty's laugh was
(03:20):
shrill with contempt. Oh you're bigenough, he sneered, But what does
beef count? Again? A lightningflash he grew reminiscent. I seen him
bluff down the wyoming kid yesterday.A religious silence spread in the bunk house.
The cowpunchers sat as stiff as thoughin Sunday store clothes. Shorty took
(03:43):
advantage of this favoring hush. Ifind him sitting in a game of poker,
and I give him the girl's letter. He shakes it open, saying,
see that ten, and raise youten more. I look over his
shoulder as he flips up his cards. He's got a measly pair of dew
uses. Then he reads the letterand hands it back to me. Is
(04:03):
it as bad as all that?He says? See that other five and
raise you twenty. You're too strongfor me, read, says the gent
that was bucking him, and laysdown to that pair of deuces. I
read the letter, dear mister Parris. I know you don't like to hire
out, but this is a jobwhere he won't have a boss. The
(04:25):
chestnut horse that nearly killed Manuel CordovaAlcatraz has come to my ranch and stolen
half a dozen valuable mayors. Willyou come up and try to get rid
of him for me? The jobseems too big for my men. Name
your own terms, cordially yours,Mary Anne Jordan. I hands him back
(04:46):
the letter while he rakes in hiswinnings. I wouldn't go as far as
she does about the men she's got, I says, But the horse is
sure a fast thinking, fast movingdevil, well says he. It's the
order sounds good to me. Soonas this game busts up, we'll start
there's only four of us, won'tyou take a hand? Well, that
(05:09):
game run on forty hours. Everytime I got busted, he'd stake me
again, like a millionaire. Butfinally we was both flat. All right,
says he. I've got a purse, light enough to travel. Now
let's start with no sleep, saysI have it your own way, says
he. We'll have a snooze andthen start. We didn't have the price
(05:32):
of another room. He took meup to his room and makes me take
the bed. Well, he curlsup on the floor. The next minute
he's snoring, while I'm still arguingabout not wanting to take the bed.
Minutes later, I was asleep,but didn't seem my eyes were more than
clothes when he gives me a shake. Five o'clock, says he, and
(05:53):
time the start. We'd gone tobed about twelve, but I wasn't going
to let him put anything over onme. He bums the breakfast off the
hotel, stalls him on his bill, and then we hit the road,
him singing every step of the way, and me near dead for sleep.
I got some mad. I couldn'ttalk. The damn singing sure was ridin'
(06:15):
up my nerves. I tried totake it out on a squirrel that run
across the road, but I missedhim. Tell you what, partner,
says Paris for a quick shot.Shooting from the hip is the only stuff
shooting from the hip at squirrels,says I. I've read about that sort
of stuff in a book, butit never was done out of print.
(06:36):
Just a matter of practice, sayshe hum says I. I'm here to
see and do my talking afterwards.Just then another squirrel pops across the trail,
dodging like a yearling trying to getback to the herd. Quick as
a wink, out comes Red's gun. It just does a flip out of
(06:57):
the holster and bang, the dustjumped right under the squirrel's belly. Bang
goes the gat again and mister Squirrel'stail is chomped, plumbing two. And
then he ducks down his hole bythe side of the trail, and we
hear him squealing and chattering cuss wordsat us. I never seen such shooting
in my life. But Paris putsup his gun and gets Red as a
(07:20):
girl when two gents ask her forthe same dance. I'm plumb out of
practice, he says. Anyways,I guess I've been talking too much.
You'll have to excuse me, shorty, And he meant it. He wasn't
talking. Guph didn't seem possible anybodycould shoot as fast and as straight as
(07:40):
that. But Paris was all cutup because he missed. And he didn't
do no more singing for about halfan hour, and I needed that time
for a lot of thinking. Madeup my mind that if anybody wanted to
make trouble for Paris, they couldcount me out of the party. And
he kept on singing when he startedagain, all the way to the ranch,
(08:01):
and me wondering when I was goingto go to sleep and fall off.
I tried to make talk. Seeinga queer looking Foby wore for his
watch pocket and asked him where hegot it. Tell you about it,
says, he comes from me beingplumb peaceable. I remember some of the
(08:22):
things I heard about Red Paris inGloucesterville and didn't say nothing. I just
swallowed hard and took a squint ata cloud. Four or five years back,
he says, when there was moreliquor and ambition floating around these parts,
I was up in a little crossRoads Saloon in Utah near Gunterville.
Saloon was pretty jammed with folks,all strangers to me. I wasn't packing
(08:46):
a gun. Never do when I'min a crowd if I can help it.
Well, I got into a littlegame of stud and things were running
pretty easy for me when a biggent across the table that had been losing
hard drinking hard ups and says heallows, I sure have the cards talking.
It sort of riled me. Itell him pretty liberal what I think
(09:09):
of him and all like him.I go back into the past and give
him a nice little description about allhis ancestors. I aimed the wind up
with an invite to step outside andhave it out with fists, but he
don't wait. Right in the middleof my sermon, he ountces with a
gat and blazes away at me.The slug drills me in the thigh and
(09:30):
I go down. Well, thisis the slug, and I've been wearing
it to remind me that I particularwant to meet up with that same gent
before he gets too old for agunfight. Here Shorty pauses and sighed,
shaking his bullet head, and adeep murmur of appreciation passed around the room.
(09:52):
Shorty sank back again on the bunkand turned his broad back on the
crowd. Don't nobody wake me forchuck, he warned them. I've just
finished cramming a month in the fourdays, and I've got a night off
coming. Instantly his snoring began,but it was some moments before anyone spoke.
Then it was Little Joe, inhis solemn bass voice sounds man's sized.
(10:18):
He declared, where's a bullet fora watch? Fob busts horses for
fun, sleeps one day a week, and don't work under a boss.
Hervey, you'll have to put onkid gloves when you talk to that Paris.
Huh, hey, where are yougoin? He's going out to think
it over, chuckled another. Heneeds air, and I don't blame him.
(10:39):
Just as soon be a formIn overa wildcat as over a gent like
Paris. There goes the gong endof chapter twelve.
Chapter twelve of Alcatraz by Max Brand. This LibriVox recording is in the public
domain. From the hip, Shortyrode for the bunk house instead of the
corrals, and tumbling out of thesaddle, he staggered through the door.
Inside, the cowpunchers sat about andjoining a before dinner's smoke and the coolness
(00:24):
which the evening wash had brought totheir wind parched skins. Shorty reeled through
the midst of them to his bunkand collapsed upon it. Not a man
stirred, not an eye followed him, no matter what curiosity was burning in
their vitals. Etiquette demanded that theyask no questions if in no otherwise the
(00:46):
Indian has left his stamp on thecountry. In the manners of the Western
riders. In the meantime, Shortylay on his back with his arms flung
out crosswise, his eyes closed,his breath expelled with a moan, and
drawn in with a rattle. Slim, he called at length. Slim raised
(01:07):
his little freckled face, which wassupported by a neck of uncanny length,
and he blinked unconcernedly at his bunkie. He and Shorty were inseparable companions.
Take the saddle off my horse andput her up, groaned the Shorty,
I'm dead beat. Maybe you've beenchasing Paris on foot, observed lew Hervey.
(01:30):
Direct questions were still not in order, but often a man could be
taunted into speech. Damn Paris anddamn him black, retorted Shorty, opening
his eyes with a snap and lettinga glance blaze into space. Of all
the leather skinned, mule muscled,wrong headed gents I ever seen, he's
(01:52):
the outlastinesst. You sure got yourvocabulary all warmed up, observed Little Joe,
so called because of two hundred poundsof iron, hard sinew and muscle
Slim, was wandering towards the doorto execute his mission, but he kept
his head cocked towards his prostrated friendto learn as much as possible before he
(02:15):
left, which I disremember, wenton little Joe, thoughtfully of you,
ever putting so many words together withoutcussing. Paris must have given you some
Bible study down the Gloucesterville. Itbrought Shorty up on one bulging elbow,
and he glared at little Joe.Bible, snorted Shorty. His idea of
(02:37):
a Bible is fifty two cards.And a joker. He does his praying
with one foot on a foot rail. He'll sure fit in fine here,
drawed little Joe. What with agirl for our boss and a hired horse
catcher. None of us been goodenough to take the job. We all
will get a mighty fine rep aroundthese parts. He'd done yourself proud bringing
(03:00):
him up here. Shorty. Laugh, damn you, said Shorty. Heeded
to such a point that he halfforgot his exhaustion. You ain't been through
what I've been through. You ain'tmad enough to have lasted. The imputation
sobered Little Joe, and he shruggedhis massive shoulders significantly. Shorty's laugh was
(03:20):
shrill with contempt. Oh you're bigenough, he sneered, But what does
beef count? Again? A lightningflash he grew reminiscent. I seen him
bluff down the wyoming kid yesterday.A religious silence spread in the bunk house.
The cowpunchers sat as stiff as thoughin Sunday store clothes. Shorty took
(03:43):
advantage of this favoring hush. Ifind him sitting in a game of poker,
and I give him the girl's letter. He shakes it open, saying,
see that ten, and raise youten more. I look over his
shoulder as he flips up his cards. He's got a measly pair of dew
uses. Then he reads the letterand hands it back to me. Is
(04:03):
it as bad as all that?He says? See that other five and
raise you twenty. You're too strongfor me, read, says the gent
that was bucking him, and laysdown to that pair of deuces. I
read the letter, dear mister Parris. I know you don't like to hire
out, but this is a jobwhere he won't have a boss. The
(04:25):
chestnut horse that nearly killed Manuel CordovaAlcatraz has come to my ranch and stolen
half a dozen valuable mayors. Willyou come up and try to get rid
of him for me? The jobseems too big for my men. Name
your own terms, cordially yours,Mary Anne Jordan. I hands him back
(04:46):
the letter while he rakes in hiswinnings. I wouldn't go as far as
she does about the men she's got, I says, But the horse is
sure a fast thinking, fast movingdevil, well says he. It's the
order sounds good to me. Soonas this game busts up, we'll start
there's only four of us, won'tyou take a hand? Well, that
(05:09):
game run on forty hours. Everytime I got busted, he'd stake me
again, like a millionaire. Butfinally we was both flat. All right,
says he. I've got a purse, light enough to travel. Now
let's start with no sleep, saysI have it your own way, says
he. We'll have a snooze andthen start. We didn't have the price
(05:32):
of another room. He took meup to his room and makes me take
the bed. Well, he curlsup on the floor. The next minute
he's snoring, while I'm still arguingabout not wanting to take the bed.
Minutes later, I was asleep,but didn't seem my eyes were more than
clothes when he gives me a shake. Five o'clock, says he, and
(05:53):
time the start. We'd gone tobed about twelve, but I wasn't going
to let him put anything over onme. He bums the breakfast off the
hotel, stalls him on his bill, and then we hit the road,
him singing every step of the way, and me near dead for sleep.
I got some mad. I couldn'ttalk. The damn singing sure was ridin'
(06:15):
up my nerves. I tried totake it out on a squirrel that run
across the road, but I missedhim. Tell you what, partner,
says Paris for a quick shot.Shooting from the hip is the only stuff
shooting from the hip at squirrels,says I. I've read about that sort
of stuff in a book, butit never was done out of print.
(06:36):
Just a matter of practice, sayshe hum says I. I'm here to
see and do my talking afterwards.Just then another squirrel pops across the trail,
dodging like a yearling trying to getback to the herd. Quick as
a wink, out comes Red's gun. It just does a flip out of
(06:57):
the holster and bang, the dustjumped right under the squirrel's belly. Bang
goes the gat again and mister Squirrel'stail is chomped, plumbing two. And
then he ducks down his hole bythe side of the trail, and we
hear him squealing and chattering cuss wordsat us. I never seen such shooting
in my life. But Paris putsup his gun and gets Red as a
(07:20):
girl when two gents ask her forthe same dance. I'm plumb out of
practice, he says. Anyways,I guess I've been talking too much.
You'll have to excuse me, shorty, And he meant it. He wasn't
talking. Guph didn't seem possible anybodycould shoot as fast and as straight as
(07:40):
that. But Paris was all cutup because he missed. And he didn't
do no more singing for about halfan hour, and I needed that time
for a lot of thinking. Madeup my mind that if anybody wanted to
make trouble for Paris, they couldcount me out of the party. And
he kept on singing when he startedagain, all the way to the ranch,
(08:01):
and me wondering when I was goingto go to sleep and fall off.
I tried to make talk. Seeinga queer looking Foby wore for his
watch pocket and asked him where hegot it. Tell you about it,
says, he comes from me beingplumb peaceable. I remember some of the
(08:22):
things I heard about Red Paris inGloucesterville and didn't say nothing. I just
swallowed hard and took a squint ata cloud. Four or five years back,
he says, when there was moreliquor and ambition floating around these parts,
I was up in a little crossRoads Saloon in Utah near Gunterville.
Saloon was pretty jammed with folks,all strangers to me. I wasn't packing
(08:46):
a gun. Never do when I'min a crowd if I can help it.
Well, I got into a littlegame of stud and things were running
pretty easy for me when a biggent across the table that had been losing
hard drinking hard ups and says heallows, I sure have the cards talking.
It sort of riled me. Itell him pretty liberal what I think
(09:09):
of him and all like him.I go back into the past and give
him a nice little description about allhis ancestors. I aimed the wind up
with an invite to step outside andhave it out with fists, but he
don't wait. Right in the middleof my sermon, he ountces with a
gat and blazes away at me.The slug drills me in the thigh and
(09:30):
I go down. Well, thisis the slug, and I've been wearing
it to remind me that I particularwant to meet up with that same gent
before he gets too old for agunfight. Here Shorty pauses and sighed,
shaking his bullet head, and adeep murmur of appreciation passed around the room.
(09:52):
Shorty sank back again on the bunkand turned his broad back on the
crowd. Don't nobody wake me forchuck, he warned them. I've just
finished cramming a month in the fourdays, and I've got a night off
coming. Instantly his snoring began,but it was some moments before anyone spoke.
Then it was Little Joe, inhis solemn bass voice sounds man's sized.
(10:18):
He declared, where's a bullet fora watch? Fob busts horses for
fun, sleeps one day a week, and don't work under a boss.
Hervey, you'll have to put onkid gloves when you talk to that Paris.
Huh, hey, where are yougoin? He's going out to think
it over, chuckled another. Heneeds air, and I don't blame him.
(10:39):
Just as soon be a formIn overa wildcat as over a gent like
Paris. There goes the gong endof chapter twelve.
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