Mavericks

ot a soul in sight. Don't believe there's a man about the place. No
risk at all, looks to me."

With that, he swept the match to a flame, and lit the pipe. He sat close
to the open window, so that the smoke could drift out without his being
seen.

The experiment brought no disaster. He finished his smoke undisturbed,
and went back to reading.

The hours dragged slowly past. Noon came and went; mid-afternoon was
upon him. His watch showed a few minutes past four when he decided on
another smoke. From the corner of his pocket he raked the loose tobacco
into the bowl of his pipe, and pressed it down. Presently he was again
puffing in pleasant serenity.

Suddenly there came a blinding flash and a roar.

Buck started to his feet in amazement, the stem of the pipe still in his
mouth, the bowl shattered into a hundred bits. His first thought was
that he had been the target for a sharpshooter. There was a neat hole
through the framework of the window case, showing where the bullet had
plowed. But an investigation left him in the air; for the direction of
the bullet hole was such that, if anybody from outside had fired it, he
must have been up in a balloon.

The explanation came to him like a flash. In raking the tobacco into his
pipe with his fingers, he must have pressed into the bowl a stray
cartridge left some time in the pocket. This had gone off after the heat
had reached the powder.

By the time he had reached this conclusion some one came running along
the passage and tried the locked door. After some rattling at the knob,
the footsteps retreated. Buck could hear excited voices.

"Coming back in force, I'll bet," he told himself, with a dubious grin.

The fat was surely in the fire now.

Footsteps made themselves heard again, this time in numbers. The door
was tried cautiously. A voice demanded admittance sharply.

Buck opened the door and gazed at the intruders in mild surprise. Old
Sanderson and Phil were there, together with Slim and a cow-puncher
known as Cuffs. All

Mary Johnston (November 21, 1870 May 9, 1936) was an American novelist and womens rights advocate. The daughter of an American Civil War soldier who became a successful lawyer, Mary Johnston was born in the small town of Buchanan, Virginia. A small and frail girl, she was educated at home by family and tutors. She grew up with a love of books and was financially independent enough to devote herself to writing.

Various, or Various Production, is an English dubstep/electronic music duo formed in 2003. The group blends samples, acoustic and electronic instrumentation, and singing from a revolving cast of vocalists. Its members, Adam and Ian, purposefully give very little information about the group or themselves, and tend to do little in the way of self-promotion.[1] Nevertheless, the group began winning critical acclaim with its single releases in 2005 and 2006.[2] Their full-length for XL, The World is Gone, arrived in July of 2006.[3][4][5][6][7] They have released a large number of vinyl EPs and 7 records, as well as digital exclusives for Rough Trade, iTunes, and Boomkat.[8]