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Altsheler, Joseph A. (Joseph Alexander), 1862-1919

"The Free Rangers A Story of the Early Days Along the Mississippi"


"About four hours."
"Four hours! why, I thought it wuz four months. Paul, I don't believe I
could stand this more'n a week, no matter ef they fed me upon the finest
things in the land. At the end uv a week I'd turn right over an' die, an'
when they examined me to see the cause uv my death, they'd find that my
heart wuz broke in two, right squar' down the middle."
"They say that some wild animals die in captivity, and you might call it
of a broken heart."
"I'm one uv them kind. I like lots uv room. I want it to be clean woods
an' prairie runnin' a thousan' miles from me in every direction. An' I
don't want too many people trampin' 'roun' in them woods either, save
Injuns to keep you lookin' lively, an' mebbe twenty or thirty white men
purty well scattered. I reckon I'd call that my estate, Paul, an' I'd want
it swarmin' with b'ars an' buffaler an' deer, an' all kinds uv big an'
little game. Then I'd want a couple uv good rifles, one to take the place
uv tother when it went bad, an' a couple uv huts p'raps three or four
hundred miles apart to sleep in, when the weather wuz too tarnation bad,
lots uv ammunition an', Paul, I'd be happy on that thar estate uv mine."
"Aren't you a little bit grasping, Jim?" asked Paul.


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