THE UPHILL CLIMB
by
B. M. BOWER
Author of _Good Indian_, _Chip, of the Flying U_, etc.
With Illustrations by CHARLES M. RUSSELL
New York Grosset & Dunlap Publishers
1913
[Illustration: "Hell-o, Ford, where the blazes did you drop down from?" a welcoming voice yelled. Frontispiece.]
CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I "Married! And I Don't Know Her Name!" II Wanted: Information III One Way to Drown Sorrow IV Reaction V "I Can Spare this Particular Girl" VI The Problem of Getting Somewhere VII The Foreman of the Double Cross VIII "I Wish You'd Quit Believing in Me!" IX Impressions X In Which the Demon Opens an Eye and Yawns XI "It's Going to Be an Uphill Climb!" XII At Hand-Grips with the Demon XIII A Plan Gone Wrong XIV The Feminine Point of View XV The Climb XVI To Find and Free a Wife XVII What Ford Found at the Top
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"Hell-o, Ford, where the blazes did you drop down from?" a welcoming voice yelled. (Frontispiece)
She lifted her head and looked at him, and drew away.
Dick tottered upon the step and went off backward.
"Ford, I'm no coquette," she said straightforwardly.
CHAPTER I
"Married! And I Don't Know Her Name!"
Ford lifted his arms above his head to yawn as does a man who has slept too heavily, found his biceps stiffened and sore, and massaged them gingerly with his finger-tips. His eyes took on the vacancy of memory straining at the leash of forgetfulness. He sighed largely, swung his head slowly from left to right in mute admission of failure to grasp what lay just behind his slumber, and thereby discovered other muscles that protested against sudden movement. He felt his neck with a careful, rubbing gesture. One hand strayed to his left cheekbone, hovered there tentatively, wandered to the bridge of his nose, and from there dropped inertly to the bed.
"Lordy me! I must have been drunk last night," he said aloud, mechanically taking the straight line of logic from effect to cause, as much experience had taught him to do.
"You was--and then some," replied an unemotional voice from somewhere behind him.
"Oh! That you, Sandy?" Ford lay quiet, trying to remember. His finger-tips explored the right side of his face; now and then he winced under their touch, light as it was.
"I must have carried an awful load," he decided, again unerringly taking the backward trail from effect to cause. Later, logic carried him farther. "Who'd I lick, Sandy?"
Table of contents (by pages)
- 1: The Uphill Climb by B. M. Bower
- 2: You licked the preacher afterwards
- 3: Unh hunh that's what you done
- 4: Sandy looked at Ford curiously
- 5: You or maybe it was Rock tromped on Big Jim's bunion
- 6: Hesitated while he stared hard at Ford
- 7: And sulked for the rest of that day of rain and gloom
- 8: He glanced reproachfully down at Ford
- 9: Ford buttoned himself into his overcoat
- 10: They kinda hoped you'd explain Sure
- 11: There were a few decent traits in Ford Campbell
- 12: Ford was looking at the agent attentively
- 13: And clutching Sam by the necktie
- 14: Not one thousandth part as explicit as Ford was
- 15: Tom Aldershot you that calls yourself a marshal
- 16: They built the jail that night
- 17: By hokey What did I lick you again
- 18: I've stood a hull lot from Ford
- 19: And flinging back a hope of further triumphs in pinochle
- 20: Ford wondered fleetingly if matrimony had changed old Ches
- 21: When Rambler rose gamely to it
- 22: With Rambler hobbling painfully after him
- 23: Trying to make him jump that washout
- 24: Ford did not offer any explanation
- 25: Beyond which she and Rambler were waiting
- 26: If anything he felt that same wordless rage
- 27: Told him over and over that it was a darned shame
- 28: Rambler whinnied after him wistfully
- 29: Ches Mason it was the same old Ches
- 30: I've been kinda looking for you
- 31: He had remembered had Ches Mason
- 32: Ches and it's been mostly down grade
- 33: Ford pushed past her in the doorway without speaking
- 34: Carried the girl to the bunk house
- 35: And she can't walk her ankle is sprained dreadfully
- 36: And Ford swung about and faced him again
- 37: Ye es but you won't get jagged
- 38: And she was hurt pretty bad and getting kinda wobbly
- 39: And told Ches truthfully Phenie
- 40: Buddy was Josephine's devoted admirer
- 41: Phenie provokes me almost past endurance
- 42: Ford was once more plainly content with life
- 43: Bud's going to have charge of Rambler while we're gone
- 44: He had sent a whimsically solemn message to Buddy
- 45: That Jim Felton stuck to his post
- 46: Ford gathered together what chips he felt certain were his
- 47: Mason sent word by a migratory cowboy
- 48: Full of exciting anecdotes about Rambler
- 49: If he does make connections with the booze
- 50: I guess she's ashamed because she's got such long winkers
- 51: In the direction of the hairbrush
- 52: Then Dick overtook him with Buddy trailing
- 53: But Buddy never considered himself mistaken about anything
- 54: Josephine got up from the table then
- 55: To fire the hull works into the gully
- 56: Before Mose gets back from hunting eggs
- 57: And all the while the cork was out of that jug
- 58: He glanced toward the bunk house
- 59: Josephine looked at the jug upon the floor beside him
- 60: Dick said but the jug is full practically
- 61: Yuh don't put aigs in mince meat
- 62: I'd buy up all the shickens in the whole worl'
- 63: I wish I could carry booze like that
- 64: He drew back and said Whee e e
- 65: And when he saw that the room was empty save for Buddy
- 66: Josephine entered then with Ford's belated tea
- 67: She's keeping cases on that jug
- 68: I'd figured it out about as Walt says
- 69: Always he had been able to set the jug back unopened
- 70: Buddy looked at him with the round
- 71: Ford almost choked when he heard that
- 72: But Buddy shot that question into the conversation
- 73: This without looking toward Ford at all
- 74: Sheer surprise held Ford silent
- 75: Josephine stared blankly at the brown slope before them
- 76: When the jug seemed to be on top
- 77: And busied himself with the shears
- 78: Ford whispered incredulously to himself
- 79: Spare muh for muh poor mother's sake
- 80: It was ten minutes before Ford spoke again
- 81: Did Miss Melby Miss Melby my granny
- 82: Grasped Buddy firmly by the arm
- 83: Josephine did protest somewhat muffledly But
- 84: Rather than disturb those two in the pantry
- 85: Popular Copyrighted FictionGrosset Dunlap
- 86: Ask for Grosset Dunlap's list WITHIN THE LAW
- 87: As Get Rich Quick Wallingford
- 88: HER PRAIRIE KNIGHT A realistic story of the plains