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Western Short Stories
Andy Adams 1859-1935 

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Western short stories Bio. of Andy Adams

Andy Adams lived the cowboy life on the Texas plains. He wrote about his experiences in fiction to set Americans straight about life in the West.
Adams published six books on ranching life and helped shape the genre of western fiction.

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Western Short Stories by Andy Adams

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THE DOUBLE TRAIL
Andy Adams

Early in the summer of '78 we were rocking along with a herd of Laurel Leaf cattle, going up the old Chisholm trail in the Indian Territory. The cattle were in charge of Ike Inks as foreman, and had been sold for delivery somewhere in the Strip...Read More of The Double Trail>>

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BAD MEDICINE
Andy Adams

The evening before the Cherokee Strip was thrown open for settlement, a number of old timers met in the little town of Hennessey, Oklahoma.
On the next day the Strip would pass from us and our employers, the cowmen. Some of the boys had spent from five to fifteen years on this range. But we realized that we had come to the parting of the ways....Read More of Bad Medicine>>

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IN THE HANDS OF HIS FRIENDS
Andy Adams

There was a painting at the World's Fair at Chicago named "The Reply," in which the lines of two contending armies were distinctly outlined.
One of these armies had demanded the surrender of the other. The reply was being written by a little fellow, surrounded by grim veterans of war...Read More of In The Hands of His Friends>>

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A QUESTION OF POSSESSION
Andy Adam

Along in the 80's there occurred a question of possession in regard to a brand of horses, numbering nearly two hundred head. Courts had figured in former matters, but at this time they were not appealed to, owing to the circumstances...Read More of A Question of Possession>>

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AT COMANCHE FORD
Andy Adam

"There's our ford," said Juan,--our half-blood trailer,--pointing to the slightest sag in a low range of hills distant twenty miles.

We were Texas Rangers. It was nearly noon of a spring day, and we had halted on sighting our destination,--Comanche Ford on the Concho River. Less than three days before, we had been lounging around camp, near Tepee City, one hundred and seventy-five miles northeast of our present destination. A courier had reached us with an emergency order, which put every man in the saddle within an hour after its receipt...Read more of At Comanche Ford>> 

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DRIFTING NORTH
Andy Adam

It was a wet, bad year on the Old Western Trail. From Red River north and all along was herd after herd waterbound by high water in the rivers. Our outfit lay over nearly a week on the South Canadian, but we were not alone, for there were five other herds waiting for the river to go down. This river had tumbled over her banks for several days, and the driftwood that was coming down would have made it dangerous swimming for cattle... Read more of Drifting North>>

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Rope and Wire Note. Andy Adams was no stranger to the N.....word. Acceptable at the time he wrote this, but obviously not now. The story is intact. If this will offend you, don't read the story. 

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Around the Spade Wagon
Andy Adam

It was an early spring. The round-up was set for the 10th of June. The grass was well forward, while the cattle had changed their shaggy winter coats to glossy suits of summer silk. The brands were as readable as an alphabet.

It was one day yet before the round-up of the Cherokee Strip. This strip of leased Indian lands was to be worked in three divisions. We were on our way to represent the Coldwater Pool in the western division, on the annual round-up. Our outfit was four men and thirty horses. We were to represent a range that had twelve thousand cattle on it, a total of forty-seven brands. Read more of Around the Spade Wagon>>

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