Judith of Blue Lake Ranch

Judith of Blue Lake Ranch, by
Jackson

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Gregory, Illustrated by W. Herbert Dunton
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Title: Judith of Blue Lake Ranch
Author: Jackson Gregory

Release Date: July 27, 2006 [eBook #18926]
Language: English
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JUDITH OF BLUE LAKE RANCH
by
JACKSON GREGORY
Author of The Joyous Trouble Maker, Six Feet-Four, Etc.
Illustrated by W. Herbert Dunton

[Frontispiece: Judith's spurs answered him, and the bit . . . brought him
about, whirling . . . bucking as only . . . a devil-hearted horse knows
how to buck.]

New York Grosset & Dunlap Publishers Copyright, 1919, by Charles
Scribner's Sons Published March, 1919 Reprinted April, 1920
Copyright, 1917, 1918, by the Ridgeway Company

CONTENTS
CHAPTER
I.
BUD LEE WANTS TO KNOW II. JUDITH TAKES A HAND III.
AND RIDES AN OUTLAW IV. JUDITH PUTS IT STRAIGHT V.
THE BIGNESS OF THE VENTURE VI. YOUNG HAMPTON
REGISTERS A PROTEST VII. THE HAPPENING IN SQUAW
CREEK CAÑON VIII. RIFLE SHOTS FROM THE CLIFFS IX. THE

OLD TRAIL X. UNDER FIRE XI. IN THE OLD CABIN XII.
PARDNERS XIII. THE CAPTURE OF SHORTY XIV. SPRINGTIME
AND A VISION XV. JUST A GIRL, AFTER ALL XVI. POKER
FACE AND A WHITE PIGEON XVII. "ONCE A FOOL--ALWAYS
A FOOL" XVIII. JUDITH TRIUMPHANT XIX. BUD LEE SEEKS
CROOKED CHRIS QUINNION XX. THE FIGHT AT THE
JAILBIRD XXI. BURNING MEMORY XXII. PLAYING THE
GAME XXIII. THE WRATH OF POLLOCK HAMPTON XXIV. A
SIGNAL-FIRE? XXV. THE TOOLS WHICH TREVORS USED
XXVI. JUDITH'S PERIL XXVII. ALONE IN THE WILDERNESS
XXVIII. BACON, KISSES, AND A CONFESSION XXIX. LEE AND
OLD MAN CARSON RIDE TOGETHER XXX. THE FIGHT XXXI.
YES, JUDITH WAS WAITING

ILLUSTRATIONS
Judith's spurs answered him, and the bit . . . brought him about,
whirling . . . bucking as only . . . a devil-hearted horse knows how to
buck . . . . . . Frontispiece
A lean, muscular hand fell lightly upon his shoulder and he was jerked
back promptly
Quinnion was down and shooting, with but ten steps . . . between him
and the man whom he sought to kill
"You'll find your work cut out for you."

Judith of Blue Lake Ranch
I
BUD LEE WANTS TO KNOW
Bud Lee, horse foreman of the Blue Lake Ranch, sat upon the gate of

the home corral, builded a cigarette with slow brown fingers, and stared
across the broken fields of the upper valley to the rosy glow above the
pine-timbered ridge where the sun was coming up. His customary
gravity was unusually pronounced.
"If a man's got the hunch an egg is bad," he mused, "is that a real good
and sufficient reason why he should go poking his finger inside the
shell? I want to know!"
Tommy Burkitt, the youngest wage-earner of the outfit and a profound
admirer of all that taciturnity, good-humor, and quick capability which
went into the make-up of Bud Lee, approached from the ranch-house
on the knoll. "Hi, Bud!" he called. "Trevors wants you. On the jump."
Lee watched Tommy coming on with that wide, rocking gait of a man
used to much riding and little walking. The deep gravity in the
foreman's eyes was touched with a little twinkle by way of greeting.
Burkitt stopped at the gate, looking up at Lee. "On the jump, Trevors
said," he repeated.
"The hell he did," said Lee pleasantly. "How old are you this morning,
Tommy?"
Burkitt blushed. "Aw, quit it, Bud," he grinned. Involuntarily the boy's
big square hand rose to the tender growth upon lip and chin which, like
the flush in the eastern sky, was but a vague promise of a greater glory
to be.
"A hair for each year," continued the quiet-voiced man. "Ten on one
side, nine on the other."
"Ain't you going to do what Trevors says?" demanded Tommy.
For a moment Lee sat still, his cigarette unlighted, his broad black hat
far back upon his close-cropped hair, his eyes serenely contemplative
upon the pink of the sky above the pines. Then he slipped from his
place and, though each single movement gave an impression of great

leisureliness, it was but a flash of time until he stood beside Burkitt.
"Stick around a wee