Friar Tuck Being the Chronicles of the Reverend John Carmichael, of Wyoming, U. S. A.

It’s a curious thing—life. Ya might just as well ask a kitten to chase her own tail or a dog to bay at the evenin’ star, or a periodical spring to run constant, as to ask a fell...

Yes, this was about the time I got interested in the bettin’ barber over at Boggs. He hasn’t anything to do with this story I’m about to tell ya, except that it was him ’at give...

I’m only about twice as old as I feel; but I’ve certainly seen a lot o’ changes take place out this way. I can look back to the time when what most of us called a town was nothi...

Ty stood in his door as the Friar rode up, and he recognized him from the description Badger-face had turned in. Badger-face had been purty freely tongue-handled for not havin’...

This was the way the Friar started out with us; and year after year, this was the way he kept up. He was friendly with every one, and most every one was friendly with him. Some...

I pity the man who has never slept out doors in the Rocky Mountains. Swingin’ around with the earth, away up there in the starlight, he fills himself full o’ new life with every...

The Diamond Dot, while it was about the idealest ranch in the West from most standpoints, was run a little loose. Jabez didn’t have any luxurious tastes, and he wasn’t miserly;...

“I was all alone,” sez Tank. “I had been up in the Spider Water country lookin’ for a favorite ridin’ pony; but my hoss broke a leg, and I packed my saddle and stuff on my head...

Horace started to enlarge on how much he didn’t know about ridin’; but Tank breaks in with a plea for his nerves. “Look here,” he said, scowlin’ at Horace with his good eye, whi...

Well, we sure had a hard time gettin’ Horace in the saddle that day. He was some like a burro, small but strong minded. Finally he agreed to try it if we would put the saddle-bl...

The next day Horace walked easier ’n any of us. Now I’m tellin’ this to ya straight ’n’ you can believe it or not just as ya please; but that little cuss stepped right along, be...

Next mornin’ we fed Horace all the milk he could hold, an’ tried to drive the cow along with us; but her hoofs had been pared so thin that it made her cross an’ we had to give t...

Humans is the most disappointin’ of all the animals: when a mule opens his mouth, you know what sort of a noise is about to happen, an’ can brace yourself accordin’; an’ the sam...

Ol’ Tank Williams allus maintained that I had a memory like the Lord; but this ain’t so. What I do remember, I actually see in pictures, just like I told you; but what my memory...

Me an’ Horace was regular chums after this. I had got to likin’ him after he had showed up good stuff under treatment; but I never took him serious until he got enthusiastic abo...

Spider looked at me until he saw I was in earnest, an’ then he talked out loud. “What’s the matter with you?” he yells. “We haven’t adopted Eugene, have we? Why-for do we have t...

Horace had left, I felt purty lonely for a while. It’s hard for me to look back and keep things in regular order; because the different lines cross each other and get mixed up....

As soon as we had eaten breakfast next mornin’, the Friar sez: “You, bein’ one o’ the earth animals, have never had much chance to see a view. Yesterday your curiosity was itchi...

Olaf’s theories concernin’ violence didn’t harmonize complete with the Friar’s; but his method for discouragin’ scandal was thorough to a degree. He silenced the gossipers all r...

We had a visitor once, which was a business man. One of his chief diversities was to compare sedentary occupations with what he called the joyous, carefree outdoor life. He said...

It was broad day when I woke up—that is, the sun was beginnin’ to rise—an’ the fire had dwindled to coals, the breeze had begun to stir itself, an’ I was consid’able chilly. I s...

The Friar sez it’s all rot about men bein’ better for havin’ sowed their wild oats when young. He sez ’at it’s utter foolishness to sow any crop ya don’t want to harvest; but I...

It’s curious how hard it is, sometimes, to get trouble started. We all knew ’at the Cross-branders was ready to clean us out, an’ itchin’ for the job; but the’s one curious litt...

Whenever the’s anything on my mind I sleep purty light; an’ the whole Cross brand outfit was on my mind that night; so it’s not surprisin’ that I woke up after a bit. The moon h...

Trade-rats haven’t as much idee of real music as coyotes have. Ninety-one verses of that infernal cow-song, sung in Horace’s nose-tenor, was enough to drive bed-bugs out of a lu...

The bullet which had gone through Badger-face hadn’t touched a single bone. It had gone through his left lung purty high up, but somethin’ like the pneumonie set in, an’ he was...

After this we tied Badger-face in bed an’ kept watch of him. He kept on gettin’ stronger all the time, an’ a good percent of his meanness came back with his strength. Sometimes...

Late the next summer, I got a fine long letter from Horace—and blame if he didn’t succeed in surprisin’ me again. He wrote this letter from Africa, which is about the foreignest...

I hadn’t done much eatin’ or sleepin’ on that trip, an’ I was plumb beat out; so after I fell asleep, the Friar put a soogan over me and left me by the fire. He awakened me next...

Bosco was a regular town with twenty or thirty houses, a post office, two general stores, three saloons, an’ all such things; and right on a good stage road runnin’ north an’ so...

Human emotions are like clocks: some of ’em will run longer ’n others; but they’ll all run down unless they’re wound up again every so often. Even fear will only run so long, as...

The Friar had been in earnest tryin’ to get to Olaf; so ’at the four Simpson boys had finally been forced to throw, an’ sit on him. As soon as it was over, they got up and apolo...

As Friar Tuck and the woman came out of the mouth of the ravine, Ty Jones came out of the back door of the old cabin. He stopped a moment, lookin’ at ’em, rubbed his eyes an’ lo...

Thinkin’, just plain thinkin’, is about the hardest work the’ is; and for the next several days, we lay around doin’ mighty little else. The trouble was, ’at we couldn’t devise...

We all felt purty down-hearted after Promotheus had rode away, and we sat before the fire in Olaf’s settin’ room a good deal the same as if we were holdin’ a wake.

We all crowded around him, thinkin’ ’at the bruise betokened some sort of trouble; but he said he’d got afraid they’d begin to suspicion him; so he had tried to ride a hoss that...

Tank weighed like a beef when he got liquor-loose, and it was all me and Spider could do to get him to bed. His legs were like rubber; but he insisted on tellin’ us what he thou...

Ty Jones had been as wise as a fox when he located his ranch house. It sat on high ground, while back of it rose a cliff; so ’at the only way you could get to it without ropes f...

Oscar arrived durin’ the night with the whole four Simpson boys; and word that Kit and the kid were in fine shape, with ol’ man Simpson keepin’ a sharp watch, and Kit ready to t...

Now, you can mighty easy understand that this was a fair sized, able-bodied, bite-and-kick consternation for us, if ever the’ was one in the world. Our look-out was behind a rid...

I wasn’t sleepy, and lyin’ stretched out is the worst cure for sleeplessness ’at ever I tried; so after twistin’ about for a while, I got up and took a look around. Oscar hadn’t...

At first it was black as pitch; but I crawled as fast as I could in the hope of catchin’ up with the Friar. It is instinct with most men to follow the right wall when goin’ thro...

The first thing I did was to light the lantern, for the daylight which came down there was too much in keepin’ with the conditions to suit me. Promotheus was doubled up an’ hold...

It was a week after this before Olaf could see properly again. The doctor was wild to take Olaf back East and hold doin’s with him; but Olaf wouldn’t listen to it. He hated to h...

I have seen some mighty quick changes brought about by flood o’ circumstances breakin’ on a man all of a sudden—ol’ Cast Steel Judson, himself, had melted and run into a new mol...

We buried The by the side o’ Tim Simpson. Horace insisted on makin’ a coffin for him—fact was, he wanted to have a regular funeral, but we talked him out o’ this; so he made a c...