Latest / The Boy Scout Book of Campfire Stories / Chapter 2: Wild Horse Hunter, part 4 by Zane Grey

Transcript

Chapter 2: Wild Horse Hunter, part 4 by Zane Grey · The Boy Scout Book of Campfire Stories

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Chapter two of The Boy Scouts Book of Campfire Stories.
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Myra Parker, The Boy
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: Scouts Book of Campfire Stories, Chapter two, The Wild Horse Hunter,
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Part four by Zane Gray. Sloane looked grimly glad when simultaneously,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: with the first red flash of sunrise, a breeze fanned
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: his cheek. All that was needed now was a west wind,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: and here came the assurance of it. The valley appeared
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: hazy and smoky, with slow rolling clouds low down where
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: the line of fire moved. The coming of daylight paled
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: the blaze of the grass, though here and there Sloane
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: caught flickering glimpses of dull red flame. The wild Stallion
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: kept to the center of the valley, restlessly facing this
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: way and that, but never towards the smoke. Sloane made
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: sure that wildfire gradually gave ground as a line of
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: smoke slowly worked toward him. Every moment the breeze freshened,
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: grew steadier and stronger, until Sloane saw that it began
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: to clear the valley of the low hanging smoke. There
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: came a time when once more the blazing line extended
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: across from slope to slope. Wildfire was cornered, trapped many times.
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Sloane nervously uncoiled and recoiled his lazo. Presently the great
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: chance of his life would come, the hardest and most
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: important throw he would ever have with the He did
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: not miss often, but then he missed sometimes, and here
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: he must be swift and sure. It annoyed him that
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: his hands perspired and trembled, and that something weighty seemed
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: to obstruct his breathing. He muttered that he was pretty
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: much worn out, not in the best of condition for
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: a hard fight with a wild horse. Still he would
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: capture Wildfire. His mind was unalterably set there. He anticipated
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: that the stallion would make a final and desperate rush
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: past him, and he had his plan of action all outlined.
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: What worried him was the possibility of Wildfire's doing some
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: unforeseen feat At the very last. Sloane was prepared for
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: hours of strained watching, and then for a desperate effort,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: and then a shock that might kill Wildfire and cripple nagger,
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: or a law race and fight. But he soon discovered
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: that he was wrong about the long watch and wait.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: The wind had grown strong and was driving the fire swiftly.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: The flames, fanned by the breeze, leaped to a formidable
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: barrier in less than an hour, though the time seemed
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: only a few moments to the excited Sloane. Wildfire had
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: been driven down toward the narrowing neck of the valley,
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: and he had begun to run to and fro back
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: and forth. Any moment then, Sloane expected him to grow
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: terrorized and to come tearing up toward the pass. Wildfire
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: showed evidence of terror, but he did not attempt to
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: make the pass. Instead, he went at the right hand
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: slope of the valley and began to climb. The slope
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: was steep and soft, yet the stallion climbed up and up.
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: The dust flew in clouds, the gravel rolled down, and
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: the sand followed in long streams. Wildfire showed his keenness
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: by zigzagging up the slope. Go ahead, you red devil,
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: yelled Sloane. He was much elated in that soft bank.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: Wildfire would tire out while not hurting himself. Sloane watched
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: the stallion in admiration and pity and exultation. Wildfire did
• 4:25
  Speaker 1: not make much headway, for he slipped back almost as
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: much as he gained. He attempted one place after another
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: where he failed. There was a bank of clay some
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: few feet high, and he could not round it at
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: either end or surmount it in the middle. Finally, he
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: literally pawed and cut a path, much as if he
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: were digging in the sand for water. When he got
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: over that, he was not much better off. The slope
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: above was endless and grew steeper more difficult toward the top.
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Sloane knew absolutely that no horse could climb over it.
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: He grew apprehensive, however, for wildfire might stick up there
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: on the slope. Until the line of fire passed. The
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: horse apparently shunned any near proximity to the fire and
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: performed prodigious efforts to escape. He'll be riding an avalanche
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: pretty soon, muttered Sloane. Long sheets of sand and gravel
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: slid down to spill thinly over the low bank. Wildfire,
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: now sinking to his knees, worked steadily upward till he
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: had reached a point half way up the slope at
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: the head of a long yellow bank of treacherous looking sand.
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: Here he was halted by a low bulge, which he
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: might have surmounted had his feet been free, But he
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: stood deep in the sand. For the first time, he
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: looked down at the sweeping fire, and then it Sloane.
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: Suddenly the bank of sand began to slide with him.
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: He snorted in fright. The avalanche started slowly and was
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: evidently no mere surface slide. It was deep. It stopped,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: then started again, and again stopped. Wildfire appeared to be
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: sinking deeper and deeper. His struggles only embedded him more firmly.
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: Then the bank of sand, with an ominous, low roar,
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: began to move once more. This time it slipped swiftly.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: The dust rose in a cloud, almost obscuring the horse.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: Long streams of gravel rattled down, and waterfalls of sand
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: waved over the steps of the slope. Just as suddenly
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: the avalanche stopped again. Sloane saw from the great oval
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: it had left above that it was indeed deep. That
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: was the reason it did not slide readily. When the
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: dust cleared away, Sloane saw the stallion sunk to his
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: flanks in the sand, utterly helpless. With a wild whoop,
• 7:13
  Speaker 1: Sloane leaped off, nagger and a lasso in each hand.
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: He ran along the long bank. The fire was perhaps
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: a quarter of a mile distant, and since the grass
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: was thinning out, it was not coming so fast as
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: it had been. The position of the stallion was halfway
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: between the fire and Sloan, and one hundred yards down
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: the slope. Like a madman, Sloan climbed up through the dragging,
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: loose sand. He was beside himself with the fury of excitement.
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: He fancied his eyes were failing him, that it was
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: not possible. The great horse really was up there, helpless
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: in the sand. Yet every huge stride Sloane took brought
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: him closer to a fact he could not deny. In
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: his eagerness, he slipped and fell, and crawled and leaped
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: until he reached the slide which held Wildfire prisoner. The
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: stallion might have been fast in quicksand up to his body.
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: For all the movement he could make, he could move
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: only his head. He held that up, his eyes wild
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: showing the whites, his foaming mouth wide open, his teeth
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: gleaming a sound like a scream rent the air. Terrible
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: fear and hate were expressed in that piercing neigh and shaggy, wet,
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: dusty red with all of brute savageness in the look
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: and action of his head. He appeared hideous. As Sloane
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: leaped within roping distance, the avalanche slipped a foot or two, halted,
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: slipped once more, and slowly started again with that low roar.
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: He did not care whether it's or stopped. Like a wolf,
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: he leaped closer, whirling his rope. The loop hissed round
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: his head and whistled as he flung it, And when
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: fiercely he jerked back on the rope, the noose closed
• 9:13
  Speaker 1: tight round Wildfire's neck. I got a rope on him,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: cried Sloane in horse pants. He stared, unbelieving it was unreal.
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: That sight unreal. Like the slow grinding movement of the
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: avalanche under him, Wildfire's head seemed a demon head of hate.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: It reached out mouth agape to bite, to rend. That
• 9:44
  Speaker 1: horrible scream could not be the scream of a horse.
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: Sloane was a wild horse hunter, a rider, and when
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: that second of incredulity flashed by then came the moment
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: of triumph. No moment could ever equal that one, when
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: he realized he stood there with a rope around that
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: grand stallion's neck. All the days and the miles, and
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: the toil and the endurance, and the hopelessness and the
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: hunger were paid for. In that moment. His heart seemed
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: too large for his breast. I tracked you, he cried savagely.
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: I stayed with you, and I got a rope on you,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: and I'll ride you, you red devil. The passion of
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: the man was intense. That endless racking pursuit had brought
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: out all the hardness the desert had engendered in him.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Almost hate instead of love, spoke in Sloane's words. He
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: hauled on the lasso, pulling the stallion's head down and down.
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: The action was the lust of capture, as well as
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: the rider's instinctive motive to make the horse fear him.
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: Life was unquenchably wild and strong in that stallion. It
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: showed in the terror which made him hideous, and man
• 11:15
  Speaker 1: and beast somehow resembled each other in that moment, which
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: was inimical to noble life. The avalanche slipped with little
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: jerks as if treacherously losing its hold for a long plunge,
• 11:30
  Speaker 1: the line of fire below ate at the bleached grass,
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: and the long column of smoke curled away on the wind.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: Sloane held the taut lasso with his left hand, and
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: with the right he swung the other rope, catching the
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: noose round Wildfire's nose. Then, letting go of the first rope,
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: he hauled on the other, pulling the head of the
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: stallion far down. Hand overhand, Sloane closed in on the horse.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: He leaped on Wildfire's head, pressed it down and holding
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: it down on the sand with his knees. With swift fingers,
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: he tied the nose in a hack a more an
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: improvised halter. Then just as swiftly he bound his scarf
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: tight round Wildfire's head, blindfolding him. All so easy, claim
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: Sloane under his breath. Who would believe it? Is it
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: a dream? He rose and let the stallion have a
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: free head, Wildfire. I got a rope on you, and
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: a hackamore and a blinder, said Sloane. And if I
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: had a bridle, I'd put that on you. Who'd ever
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: believe you'd catch yourself dragging in the sand. Sloane, finding
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: himself falling on the sand, grew alive to the augmented
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: movement of the avalanche. It had begun to slide, to
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: heave and bulge and crack, dust rosing clouds from all
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: aroun The sand appeared to open and let him sink
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: to his knees. The rattle of gravel was drowned in
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: a soft roar. Then he shot down, swiftly, holding the lassos,
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: keeping himself erect and riding as if in a boat.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: He felt the successive steps of the slope, and then
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: the long incline below, and then the checking and rising
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: and spreading of the avalanche as it slowed down on
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: the level. All movement then was checked violently. He appeared
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: to be half buried in sand. When he struggled to
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: extricate himself. The thick dust blew away and settled to
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: what he could see. Wildfire lay before him at the
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: edge of the slide, and now he was not so
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: deeply embedded as he had been up on the slope.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: He was struggling and probably soon would have been able
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: to get out. The line of fire was close now,
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: but Sloane did not fear that at his shrill whistle.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: Nagger bounded toward him, obedient but snorting, with ears laid back.
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: He halted a second whistle, started him again. Sloane finally
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: dug himself out of the sand, pulled the lassoes out,
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: and ran the length of them toward Nagger. The black
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: showed both fear and fight. His eyes rolled and he
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: half shied away. Come on, called Sloane harshly. He got
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: a hand on the horse, pulled him round, and mounting
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: in a flash, wound both lasos round the pommel of
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: the saddle. Haul him out. Nagger, old boy, cried Sloane,
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: and he dug spurs into the black. One plunge of naggers,
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: slid the stallion out of the sand, snorting wild blinded,
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: wild Fire got up, shaking in every limb. He could
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: not see his enemies. The blo blowing smoke right in
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: his nose made scent impossible, but in the taut lassos
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: he sensed the direction of his captors. He plunged, rearing
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: at the end of the plunge and struck out viciously
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: with his hoofs Sloane, quick with spur and bridle, swerved
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: Nagger aside and Wildfire off his balance, went down with
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: a crash. Sloane dragged him, stretched him out, pulled him
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: over twice before he got four feet planted. Once up,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: he reared again, screeching his rage, striking wildly with his
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: hoofs Sloane wheeled aside and toppled him over again. Wildfire.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: It's no fair fight, he called grimly. But you led
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: me a chase, and you learn right now. I'm boss.
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: End of Chapter two, Part four recording by Myra Parker