A cowboy, searching for lost mavericks, rode slowly to the top of a low sand dune, reined up his pony, and sat silent in the midst of this solemn spectacle. He was not emotional. He was looking for calves, and "sore" at not finding them, and hungry, and far from the X bar O; and night was coming on. But he sat still in his saddle, removed his flopping sombrero, and looked toward the east. Bareheaded, the wind stinging his cheek and flinging dry sand in his eyes, he gazed and wondered at the familiar but never negligible mystery of Sangre de Cristo.
But suddenly he rose in his stirrups, and shaded his eyes with his hand to make out what it was that had caught his vision in that flood of red among the dunes. Again it came, a flash of yellow in the red. It was there, and gone. And then it came and lingered, as if inviting him, like a jewel in the sand, or rather, like a challenge and a taunt.
"So you're back, are you?" cried Larkin, of the X bar O. "Well, you c'n jest stay there. I'm done with you. You ain't no horse at all, damn you! You're a devil! But I wonder--"
Then Sunnysides was gone. At the same time the light paled on the distant peaks. The wind blew colder, and swept the color off the dunes. The flats darkened under the advancing shades of night. And Larkin, muttering, put spurs to his pony, and galloped away toward supper and bed.
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Abner Daniel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Will N. Harben Adventures of Gerard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A. Conan Doyle Adventures of a Modest Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R. W. Chambers Adventures of Sherlock Holmes . . . . . . . . . . . . A. Conan Doyle After House, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mary Roberts Rinehart Ailsa Paige . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Robert W. Chambers Alternative, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . George Barr McCutcheon Alton of Somasco . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harold Bindloss Amateur Gentleman, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeffery Farnol Andrew The Glad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Maria Thompson Daviess Ann Boyd . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Will N. Harben Annals of Ann, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kate T. Sharber Anna the Adventuress . . . . . . . . . . . . . E. Phillips Oppenheim Armchair at the Inn, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . F. Hopkinson Smith Ariadne of Allan Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sidney McCall At the Age of Eve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kate T. Sharber At the Mercy of Tiberius . . . . . . . . . . . . Augusta Evans Wilson Auction Block, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rex Beach Aunt Jane of Kentucky . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eliza C. Hall Awakening of Helena Ritchie . . . . . . . . . . . . Margaret Deland Bambi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Marjorie Benton Cooke Bandbox, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Louis Joseph Vance Barbara of the Snows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harry Irving Green Bar 20 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Clarence E. Mulford Bar 20 Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Clarence E. Mulford Barrier, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rex Beach Beasts of Tarzan, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . Edgar Rice Burroughs Beechy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bettina Von Hutten Bella Donna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Robert Hichens Beloved Vagabond, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Wm. J. Locke Ben Blair . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Will Lillibridge Beth Norvell . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Randall Parrish Betrayal, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . E. Phillips Oppenheim Better Man, The . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cyrus Townsend Brady Beulah (Ill. Ed) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Augusta J. Evans Black Is White . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . George Barr McCutcheon Blaze Derringer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Eugene P. Lyle, Jr. Bob Hampton of Placer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Randall Parrish Bob, Son of Battle . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alfred Ollivant