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| title
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|---|---|---|---|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, said one of them,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Brought your plough-cows along?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, said one of the newcomers."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We have horses back yonder. When we want mules or cowsteerers, I guess we'll find them here. You seem to have quite a few of them around."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "C. R. tattooed within a garter upon it."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "See this. You've heard of that mark before?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Cash required! said the newcomer, with a grin."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, I guess that's not astonishing. It would be a blame foolish man who gave you credit."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, sir, said the stockrider."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's Cedar Range, and there's twenty boys and more cattle than you could count in a long day carrying that brand. It will be a cold day when you and the rest of the Dakotas start kicking against that outfit."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Boys, he said,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "In our country we mostly drive in wagons, but I'll ride by the stirrup and get down when nobody sees me, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The beast wouldn't try to climb out this way if there wasn't something kind of prickly under his saddle."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This, he said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "So! said Muller, with a placid grin."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is noding to der franc tireurs. I was in der chase of Menotti among der Vosges. Also at Paris."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, said Grant drily,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'm 'most afraid that by and by you'll go through very much the same kind of thing again. What you saw at the depot is going on wherever the railroad is bringing the farmers in, and we've got men in this country who'd make first-grade franc tireurs."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What do you think of the land, now you've seen it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Der land is good. It is der first-grade hard wheat she will grow. I three hundred and twenty acres buy."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, said Grant,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'm willing to let you have it; but I usually try to do the square thing, and you may have trouble before you get your first crop in."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Und, said Muller,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Not quite; and I can't sell that land outright. I'll let it to you while my lease runs, and when that falls in you'll have the same right to homestead a quarter or half section for nothing as any other man. In the meanwhile, I and one or two others are going to start wheat-growing on land that is ours outright, and take our share of the trouble."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ja, said Muller,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, said Grant,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Und, said Muller,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, said Grant."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That is the America we mean to alter. Well, where one man feeds his cattle, fifty could plough and make a living raising stock on a smaller scale, and the time's quite close upon us when they will; but the cattle-men have got the country, and it will hurt them to let go. It's not their land, and was only lent them. Now I'm no fonder of trouble than any other man, but this country fed and taught me, and kept me two years in Europe looking round, and I'd feel mean if I took everything and gave it nothing back. Muller will understand me. Do you, Breckenridge?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, yes; though I don't know that any similar obligation was laid on myself. The country I came from had apparently no use for a younger son at all, and it was kicks and snubs it usually bestowed on me; but if there's a row on hand I'm quite willing to stand by you and see it through. My folks will, however, be mildly astonished when they hear I've turned reformer."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, he said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Der progress, said Muller,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "From what I was taught, it seems to me that she moves round in rings. You start with the luxury of the few, oppression, and brutality, then comes revolution, and worse things than you had before, progress growing out of it that lasts for a few generations until the few fittest get more than their fair share of wealth and control, and you come back to the same point again."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, he said,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "On the top? said Breckenridge."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Principalities and powers, traditional and aristocratic, or monetary. Well, it seems to me they squeeze progress down tolerably flat between them occasionally. Take our old cathedral cities and some of your German ones, and, if you demand it, I'll throw their ghettos in. Then put the New York tenements or most of the smaller western towns beside them, and see what you've arrived at."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, said Muller tranquilly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Weight above she is necessary while der civilization is incomblete, but der force is from der bottom. It is all time positive and primitive, for it was make when man was make at der beginning."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, he said,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I have, said Muller,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Then we'll start you in to-morrow, said Grant."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You'll get all the lumber you want in the birch bluff, and I'll lend you one or two of the boys I brought in from Michigan. There's nobody on this continent handier with the axe."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now, said Muller quietly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I think the chasseurs come."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hallo, Hamburg! he said, and his voice had a little commanding ring."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You seem kind of busy."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ja, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Mine house I build."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, said the man in the embroidered jacket,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I fancy you're wasting time. Asked anybody's leave to cut that lumber, or put it up?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mine friend, said Muller, smiling,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Then, said the horseman drily, as he turned to his companions,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I fancy that's where you're wrong. Boys, we'll take him along in case Torrance would like to see him. I guess you'll have to walk home, Jim."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Get your foot in the stirrup, Hamburg, and I'll hoist you up,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You'll have to get down, Charlie, as well as Jim, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Torrance has his notions, or Coyote might have carried Miss Hamburg that far as well. Sorry to hurry you, Hamburg, but I don't like waiting."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mine friend, said Muller,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Get up, said the stockrider."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ever seen anybody fire off a gun?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Der rifle, he said drily."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I was at Sedan. To-day it is not convenient that I come."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Hoist him up!"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I guess we'd better hold on, said another man."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Look there, Mr. Clavering."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You might explain, Clavering, what you and your cow-boys are doing here,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We are going to take your Teutonic friend up to the Range. He is cutting our fuel timber with nobody's permission."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, said Grant drily;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Did you take out timber rights with your lease?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, I hadn't much use for them. None of my neighbours hold any either. But the bluff is big enough, and I've no objection to their cutting what billets they want. Still, I can't have them driving out any other friends of mine."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You have been picking up some curious acquaintances, Larry; but don't you think you had better leave this thing to Torrance? The fact is, the cattle-men are not disposed to encourage strangers building houses in their country just now."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I had a notion it belonged to this State. It's not an unusual one,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Of course, it sounds better that way. Have it so. Still, it will scarcely pay you to make yourself unpopular with us, Larry."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, said Grant drily,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Not quite so fast! he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It would be more fitting if you got down and expressed your regrets to the fräulein. You haven't heard Muller's story yet, Larry."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Let go, said Clavering, raising the switch he held."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Drop my bridle or take care of yourself!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Come down,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Horses back! Pull him off! Give the Britisher a show! Leave them to it!"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We've had sufficient fooling, Breckenridge, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Clavering, I'll give you a minute to get your men away, and if you can't do it in that time you'll take the consequences."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The odds are with you, Larry, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You have made a big blunder, but I guess you know your own business best."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It seems that we have made a beginning, he said hoarsely."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's first blood to them, but this will take a lot of forgetting, and the rest may be different."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Are you going on with the contract? There is the girl to consider,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "COME DOWN!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ja, said the Teuton."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I was in der Vosges, and der girl is also Fräulein Muller."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Boys, said Grant to the men from Michigan,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There's more room for us here than there was in Michigan, and now we've got our foot down here we're not going back again, he said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That's about all there is to it. But when our time comes, the other men aren't going to find us slacker than the Dutchman."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, he said very simply,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I guess the Lord who made this country will know who's in the right and help them. They'll need it. There's a big fight coming."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You have been worrying about something the last few weeks,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Is that quite unusual? asked Hetty."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Haven't a good many folks to worry all the time?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Just finding it out, Hetty? Well, I have noticed a change, and it began the day you waited for us at the depot. And it wasn't because of Jake Cheyne."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, said Hetty reflectively."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I suppose it should have been. Have you heard from him since he went away?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Lily Cheyne had a letter with some photographs, and she showed it to me. It's a desolate place in the sage bush he's living in, and there's not a white man, except the boys he can't talk to, within miles of him, while from the picture I saw of his adobe room I scarcely think folks would have it down here to keep hogs in. Jake Cheyne was fastidious, too, and there was a forced cheerfulness about his letter which had its meaning, though, of course, he never mentioned you."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Flo, I'm sorry. Still, you can't blame me."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, said Miss Schuyler,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If there ever is another, he'll be pulled up quite sharp. You don't think their foolishness, which spoils everything, is any pleasure to me. It's too humiliating. Can't one be friends with a nice man without falling in love with him?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, said Miss Schuyler drily,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Larry? Why, as I tried to tell you, he has always been just like a cousin or a brother to me, and doesn't want anything but his horses and cattle and his books on political economy. Larry's quite happy with his ranching, and his dreams of the new America. Of course, they'll never come to anything; but when you can start him talking they're quite nice to listen to."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I wouldn't be too sure. That man is in earnest, and the dreams of an earnest American have a way of coming true. You have known him a long while, and I've only seen him once, but that man will do more than talk if he ever has the opportunity. He has the quiet grit one finds in the best of us--not the kind that make the speeches--and some Englishmen, in him. You can see it in his eyes."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Then, said Hetty, with a little laugh,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I fancy he would not appreciate your generosity, and there's a good deal you have got to find out, Hetty, she said drily."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It may hurt you when you do. But you haven't told me yet what has been worrying you."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, said Hetty, with a little wistful smile."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, I'm going to. It's hard to own to, but I'm a failure. I fancied I could make everybody listen to my singing, and I would come here. Well, I came, and found out that my voice would never bring me fame, and for a time it hurt me horribly. Still, I couldn't go back just then, and when you and your mother pressed me I stayed. I knew what you expected, and I disappointed you. Perhaps I was too fastidious, but there were none of them that really pleased me. Then I began to see that I was only spoiling nicer girls' chances and trying the patience of everybody."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hetty!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Wait until I'm through. Then it became plain to me that while I'd been wasting my time here the work I was meant for was waiting at Cedar. The old man who gave me everything is very lonely there, and he and Larry have been toiling on while I flung 'most what a ranch would cost away on lessons and dresses and fripperies, which will never be any good to me. Still, I'm an American, too, and now, when there's trouble coming, I'm going back to the place I belong to."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are doing the right thing now,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, she said,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Then it's fixed, she said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'll write the old man a dutiful letter now, while I feel like doing it well."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We shall be at Cedar soon after you get this, he read among the rest."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I know if I had told you earlier you would have protested you didn't want me, just because you foolishly fancied I should be lonely at the Range; but I have been very selfish, and you must have been horribly lonely too; and one of the nicest girls you ever saw is coming to amuse you. You can't help liking Flo. Of course I had to bring a maid; but you will have to make the best of us, because you couldn't stop us now if you wanted to."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Three of them,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You seem a trifle worried, sir, and if you're busy I needn't keep you long, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I just wanted to hand you a cheque for the subscription you paid for me."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Sit down, said Torrance."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Where did you get the dollars from?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I've been thinning out my cattle."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That's not a policy I approve of just now. We'll have the rabble down upon us as soon as we show any sign of weakening."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It wasn't a question of policy. I had to have the dollars. Still, you haven't told me if you have heard anything unpleasant from the other committees."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, he said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It was something else. Hetty is on her way home, and she is bringing another young woman and a maid with her. They will be here before I can stop them. Still, I could, if it was necessary, send them back."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You will find a change in Miss Torrance, sir. She has grown into a beautiful young woman, and has, I fancy, been taught to think for herself in the city; you could not expect her to come back as she left the prairie. And if anything has induced her to decide that her place is here, she will probably stay."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You're not quite plain. What could induce her?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It was astonishing that Miss Torrance did not honour me with her confidence. A sense of duty, perhaps, although one notices that the motives of young women are usually a trifle involved. It, however, appears to me that if Miss Torrance makes up her mind to stay, we are still quite capable of guarding our women from anxiety or molestation."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, said Torrance grimly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Of course. Still, we may have to do things we would sooner they didn't hear about or see. Well, you have some news?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I was in at the railroad, and fifty Dakota men came in on the cars. I went round to the hotel with the committee, and, though it cost some dollars to fix the thing, they wouldn't take them in. The boys, who got kind of savage, found a pole and drove the door in, but we turned the Sheriff, who had already sworn some of us in, loose on them. Four or five men were nastily clubbed, and one of James's boys was shot through the arm, while I have a fancy that the citizens would have stood in with the other crowd; but seeing they were not going to get anything to eat there, they held up a store, and as we told the man who kept it how their friends had sacked Regent, he fired at them. The consequence is that the Sheriff has some of them in jail, and the rest are camped down on the prairie. We hold the town."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Through the Sheriff?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He'll earn his pay. Has it struck you that this campaign is going to cost us a good deal? Allonby hasn't much left in hand already."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, yes, said the older man, with a little grim smile."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If it's wanted I'll throw my last dollar in. Beaten now and we're beaten for ever. We have got to win."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Look at it, Flo, she said;"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You've no rustlers aboard for us?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, said the grinning official who leaned out from the door of the baggage-car."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The next crowd are waiting until they can buy rifles to whip you with."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Boys, your friends aren't coming. You can take your band home again."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hadn't you better let up, boys, or Torrance will figure you sent the band for him?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Flo, she said,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It would be a duty to do our best for any of Hetty's friends who have been so kind to her in the city, but in this case it's going to be a privilege, too, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, you will be tired, and they have a meal waiting you at the hotel. This place is a little noisy to-day, but we'll start on the first stage of your journey when you're ready."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I wouldn't worry; it wasn't for you, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's a long while since we've seen anything so pretty as Miss Torrance and the other one."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now, she said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, he said slowly,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Still, if she knew no better than that, I wouldn't worry. Jo had a cast in his eye."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Do you always talk to them that way?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Of course, said Hetty."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They're our boys--grown right here. Aren't they splendid?"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hold on a few minutes, boys, and down with that flag,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Dad, she asked more gravely,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That, he said,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The jail, said Torrance, quietly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The Sheriff has one or two rioters safe inside there."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What are the boys for?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I told you we had our troubles. It seemed better to bring them, in case we had any difficulty with Larry's friends."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Larry's friends?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, he said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You have seen a few of them. They were carrying the flag with the inscription at the depot."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Listen, said Hetty, while the colour crept into her face."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, I know it's scarcely music, and the crudest verse; but it served its purpose, and is there any nation on earth could put more swing and spirit into the grandest theme?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Some of those men are drawing their pension, but they're not with us, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's only because we have sent in all the boys we can spare that the Sheriff, who has their partners in his jail, can hold the town."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hands oop!"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Are you going to murder me, you condemned Dutchman?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, said Muller tranquilly,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, said the man hoarsely,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'm corralled. Throw that thing away, and I'll give you my pistol."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Lotta, he said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Come quick, and bring the American rifle."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Lotta, he said in English,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "She'll shoot me before she means to, he said, with a little gasp."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Come and take the condemned pistol."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Der middle of him! said Muller tranquilly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No movement make, you!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "One turn make, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "So! Your hand behind you. Lotta, you will now a halter get."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "SHE'LL SHOOT ME BEFORE SHE MEANS TO."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Lotta, he said,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You condemned Dutchman!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Der combliment, he said,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I figured it was you. There's not another man on the prairie mean enough for this kind of work, he said, pointing to the kerosene-can."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You didn't even know enough to do it decently, and you're about the only American who'd have let an old man tie his hands."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, he said hoarsely, glancing towards the hayfork, rifle, and pistol, which still lay at Muller's feet,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I've one thing to ask you, Grant said sternly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It's going to pay you to be quite straight with me. Who hired you?"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You can ask till you get sick of it, but you'll get nothing out of me,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Take him out, said Grant."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Put him on to the led horse. If you'll come round to my place for breakfast, I'll be glad to see you, Muller."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I come, said Muller."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Mit der franc tireur it is finish quicker, but here in der Republic we reverence have for der law."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, he said drily,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'm not quite sure."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You can take it that there's nothing to be got out of him,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Still, said another,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The question is what we're going to do with him,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There's one cure for his complaint, and that's a sure one, but I'm not going to urge it now, he said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Boys, we don't want to be the first to take up the rifle, and it would make our intentions quite as plain if we dressed him in a coat of tar and rode him round the town. Nobody would have any use for him after that, and it would be a bigger slap in Clavering's face than anything else we could do to him."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I've got to move a negative, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It would be better if you handed him to the Sheriff."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Sheriff! He'd let him go right off. The cattle-men have got the screw on him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, said Larry quietly,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The first man put it straight when he told you there was only one cure--the one they found out in France a hundred years ago, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You don't quite realize it yet. You haven't lived as we did back there across the sea, and seen your women thrust off the pavement into the gutter to make room for an officer, or been struck with the sword-hilt if you resented an insult before your fellow citizens. Will you take off your hats to the rich men who are trampling on you, you republicans, and, while they leave you the right of speech, beg them to respect your rights and liberties? Do that, and sit still a little, and they'll fasten the yoke we've groaned under on your necks."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't know that it isn't eloquent, but it isn't business,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "That's where you're wrong, he said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'm trying to show you that if you want your liberties you've got to fight for them, and your leader doesn't seem to know when, by hanging one man, he can save a hundred from misery. It's not the man who laid the kindling you're striking at, but, through him, those who employed him. Let them see you'll take your rights without leave of them. They've sent you warning that if you stay here they'll burn your homesteads down, and they're waiting your answer. Hang their firebug where everyone can see him, in the middle of the town."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I still move a negative and an amendment, boys, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "First, though that's not the most important, because I've a natural shrinking from butchering an unarmed man. Secondly, it was not the cattle-men who sent him, but one of them, and just because he meant to draw you on it would be the blamedest bad policy to humour him. Would Torrance, or Allonby, or the others, have done this thing? They're hard men, but they believe they're right, as we do, and they're Americans. Now for the third reason: when Clavering meant to burn Muller's homestead, he struck at me, guessing that some of you would stand behind me. He knew your temper, and he'd have laughed at us as hot-blooded rabble--you know how he can do it--when he'd put us in the wrong. Well, this time we'll give the law a show."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We think you're right, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Still, there's a question. What are you going to do if they try again?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Strike, said Larry quietly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'll go with you to the hanging of the next one."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Is it a garden party we are going to?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We may meet some of our neighbours, and after staying with you all that while in New York I don't want to go back on you. I had the thing specially made in Chicago for riding in."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "This is surely the finest country in the world,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, yes, and it's ours. All of it, she said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Worth fighting for, isn't it?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It's a pity one couldn't leave that out. You would stay here with your men folk if there was trouble?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why, of course! It's our country. We made it, and I'd go around in rags and groom the boys' horses if it would help them to whip out the men who want to take it from us."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The trouble is that when we fall out, one is apt to find as good Americans as we are, and sometimes the men we like the most, standing in with the opposition. It has happened quite often since the war."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Then, of course, one would not like them any longer,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "What are they doing there? Do they belong to you?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "To us! she said, and her voice had a thrill of scorn."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They're homesteaders. Ride down. I want to see who's leading them."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Larry, said her companion, and her voice had a curious ring,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Aren't you and Miss Schuyler rather far from home?"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I want an answer, please,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, said Larry gravely,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I was cutting down that fence."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why were you cutting it down?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It was in the way."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Of what?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Of these, and the rest who are coming by and by, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Still, I don't want to go into that; and you seem angry. You haven't offered to shake hands with me, Hetty."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That land belongs to my friends,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They have had the use of it, but it belongs to the United States, and other people have the right to farm there now. Still, that needn't make any trouble between you and me."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No? said the girl, with a curious hardness in her inflection; but her face softened suddenly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Larry, while you only talked we didn't mind; but no one fancied you would have done this. Yes, I'm angry with you. I have been home 'most a month, and you never rode over to see me; while now you want to talk politics."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I would sooner talk about anything else; and if you ask him, your father will tell you why I have not been to the range. I don't want to make you angry, Hetty."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Then you will give up this foolishness and make friends with us again, said the girl, very graciously."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It can't come to anything, Larry, and you are one of us. You couldn't want to take away our land and give it to this rabble?"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'm afraid I can't,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No? said Hetty, still graciously."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Not even when I ask you?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They have my word, and you wouldn't like me to go back upon what I feel is right,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If you will think a little, you can't help seeing that you are very wrong."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "One naturally thinks a good deal before starting in with this kind of thing, and I have to go through. I can't stop now, even to please you. But can't we still be friends?"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You ask me that? she said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You, an American, turning Dutchmen and these bush-choppers loose upon the people you belong to. Can't you see what the answer must be?"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Ride back to the Range, he said sharply,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'm afraid I lost my temper; and I'm angry yet, she said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's the first time Larry wouldn't do what I asked him, and it was mean of him to send us off like that, just when one wanted to put on all one's dignity."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I fancy he did it because it was necessary. Didn't it strike you that you were hurting him? That is a good man and an honest one, though, of course, he may be mistaken."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He must be, said Hetty."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now I used to think ever so much of Larry, and that is why I got angry with him. It isn't nice to feel one has been fooled. How can he be good when he wants to take our land from us?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You are quite delightful, Hetty, now and then. You have read a little, and been taught history. Can't you remember any?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh yes, said Hetty, with a little thoughtful nod."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Still, the men who made the trouble in those old days were usually buried before anyone was quite sure whether they were right or not. Try to put yourself in my place. What would you do?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I think if I had known a man like that one as long as you have done, I should believe in him--whatever he did."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, said Hetty gravely,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, she said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I would. It's quite an old trouble. There are two ways of looking at everything, and other folks have had to worry over them right back to the beginning."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I think it was only a warning,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I met Larry on the prairie, and of course I talked to him, she said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I asked him why he had not been to the Range, and he seemed to think it would be better if he did not come."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Then I guess he showed quite commendable taste as well as good sense. You are still decided not to go back to New York, Hetty?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, said the girl, with a little resolute nod."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You see, I can't help being young and just a little good-looking, but I'm Miss Torrance of Cedar all the time."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Hetty, he said,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Who would I stand in with but you? she said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We'll whip the rustlers out of the country, and, whether it sounds nice at the time or not, you couldn't do anything but the square thing."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There will not be many who will come through this trouble with hands quite clean,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That man should sit on horseback always, she said;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, she said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Still, you told me you didn't like him. It's Clavering. Now, I wonder what he put those things on for--he doesn't wear them very often--and whether he knew my father wasn't here."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You find us alone, said Hetty."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Are you astonished?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I am content, said Clavering."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Why do you ask me?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, said Hetty naïvely,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I fancied you must have seen my father on the prairie, and could have stopped him if you had wanted to."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The fact is, I did. Still, I was afraid he would want to take me along with him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am growing up, she said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Three years ago you wouldn't have wasted those speeches on me. Well, you can sit down and talk to Flora."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's a time-honoured question, he said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "How do you like this country?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There's something in its bigness that gets hold of one, said Miss Schuyler."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "One feels free out here on these wide levels in the wind and sun."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It would be wise to enjoy it while you can, he said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "In another year or two the freedom may be gone, and the prairie shut off in little squares by wire fences. Then one will be permitted to ride along a trail between rows of squalid homesteads flanked by piles of old boots and provision-cans. We will have exchanged the stockrider for the slouching farmer with a swarm of unkempt children and a slatternly, scolding wife then."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You believe that will come about?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It would never come if we stood loyally together, but--and it is painful to admit it--one or two of our people seem quite willing to destroy their friends to gain cheap popularity by truckling to the rabble. Of course, we could spare those men quite well, but they know our weak points, and can do a good deal of harm by betraying them."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Now, said Hetty, with a sparkle in her eyes,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is quite difficult to believe it, said Clavering."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I will tell you what one or two of them did. There was trouble down at Gordon's place fifty miles west, and his cow-boys whipped off a band of Dutchmen who wanted to pull his fences down. Well, they came back a night or two later with a mob of Americans, and laid hands on the homestead. We are proud of the respect we pay women in this country, Miss Schuyler, but that night Mrs. Gordon's and her daughters' rooms were broken into, and the girls turned out on the prairie. It was raining, and I believe they were not even allowed to provide themselves with suitable clothing. Of course, nothing of that kind could happen here, or I would not have told you."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Was nothing done to provoke them?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, said Clavering, with a dry smile,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Gordon shot one of them; but is it astonishing? What would you expect of an American if a horde of rabble who held nothing sacred poured into his house at night? Oh, yes, he shot one of them, and would have given them the magazine, only that somebody felled him with an axe. The Dutchman was only grazed, but Gordon is lying senseless still."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are sure there were Americans among them?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They were led by Americans. You know one or two of them."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, said Hetty, almost fiercely."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't know. But Larry wasn't there?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Still, we found out that his committee was consulted and countenanced the affair."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Then Larry wasn't at the meeting, said Miss Torrance."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He couldn't have been."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "One would respect such faith as yours."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I know just what you mean, and I was mistaken."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes? said Hetty."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Then you like him?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No. I fancied he was clever, and he didn't come up to my expectations. You see, he was too obvious."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "About Larry?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes. Are you not just a little inconsistent, Hetty?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't know, she said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I am, of course, quite angry with Larry, but nobody else has a right to abuse him."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You like the prairie?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, it's a good country, and different from the East, he said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There are a good many more dollars to be picked up here, and pretty women are quite scarce. They usually get married right off to a rancher. Now I guess you came out to better yourself. It takes quite a long time to get rich down East."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You'll find you have struck the right place, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Now I wonder if you could fix a pin or something in this button shank. It's coming off, you see."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If he doesn't ask for it when he comes back I'll know he meant me to keep it,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Railroad district executive sent me on to let you know the Sheriff had lost your man,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Lost him,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, said the horseman,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "He was able to hold the two homesteaders Clavering's boys brought him."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, yes, said the other,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Then, said Grant wearily,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'm tolerably played out, but I'll start back right now,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Jake, you'll take the eastern round; Charley, you'll ride west. Give them the handful of oats at every shanty to show it's urgent. They're to be at Fremont in riding order at nine to-morrow night."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Boys, said Grant quietly,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The homesteaders, who only wanted to buy food and raised no trouble until they were fired on, will be tried by the cattle-men, and I needn't tell you what kind of chance they'll get. We pledged ourselves to see they had fair play when they came in, and there's only one means of getting it. We are going to take them from the Sheriff, but there will be no fighting. We'll ride in strong enough to leave no use for that. Now, before we start, are you all willing to ride with me?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Then we'll have supper, he said quietly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It may be a long while before any of us gets a meal again."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You'll have to get down, boys, or tell me what you want, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You can't ride through here at night without a permit."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Who's going to stop us?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The Sheriff's guard, said the horseman."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Stop right where you are until I bring them."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Keep clear, said Grant sternly,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The rustler boys are coming!"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We're here, boys,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There's quite a crowd rolling up. Get through as quick as you can!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We'll give you half a minute to send somebody out to talk to us, and then we're coming in,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Who are you, any way, and what do you want?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Homesteaders, was the answer."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We want the Sheriff."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, said somebody,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'll tell him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't want to meddle, but aren't we giving them an opportunity of securing their prisoners or making their defences good?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That's sense, any way, said another man."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It would be 'way better to go right in now, while we can."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You have left this thing to me, and I want to put it through without losing a man. Men don't usually back down when the shooting begins."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You wanted the Sheriff. Here he is."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He needn't be bashful, said one of them."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Nobody's going to hurt him. Can't you bring a light, so we can see him?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It would be better, Sheriff; and you have my word that we'll give you notice before we do anything if we can't come to terms."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now you can see me, you needn't keep me waiting, said the Sheriff, with an attempt at jauntiness which betrayed his anxiety."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "What do you want?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Two of your prisoners,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'm sorry you can't have them, said the Sheriff."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Hadn't you better ride home again before I turn the boys loose on you?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's a little too far to ride back without getting what we came for, said Grant quietly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now, we have no great use for talking. We want two homesteaders, and we mean to get them; but that will satisfy us."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You want nobody else?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No. You can keep your criminals, or let them go, just as it suits you."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Then, he said hoarsely,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Get to work, said Grant."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Forward, those who are going to cover the axe-men!"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Let them pass,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Holding out still! gasped one of them."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There's iron here. Get some of the boys to chop that redwood pillar, and we'll drive it down."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "We haven't come to wreck the town. I've another plan if you're more than two minutes getting in."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Get ready, boys, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "One more on the bolt head, Jake, and we're in!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It was the old country sent you the first man in!"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Open that thing,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I couldn't do it if I wanted to. I've given my keys away."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Then what are you stopping for?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's in my contract, said the jailer quietly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I was raised in Kentucky. You don't figure I'm scared of you?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No use for talking, said a man."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You can't argue with him. Go ahead with your axes and beat the blamed thing in."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Let him go, said Grant quietly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now, we can't fool time away with you. Where's the Sheriff?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I don't quite know,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, he said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I guess he's sensible. Now, what you have got to do is to bring out the two homesteaders as quick as you can."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I told you I couldn't do it,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You listen to me. We are going to take those men out, if we have to pull this place to pieces until we find them. That, it's quite plain, would let the others go, and you would lose the whole of your prisoners instead of two of them. Tell us where you put them, and you can keep the rest."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "That's square?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, yes, said Grant."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There are quite enough men of their kind loose in this country already."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Straight on, said the jailer."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "First door."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You know them? said Grant."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, you can tell your Sheriff there wasn't a cartridge in the rifles of the men who opened his jail. He'll come back when the trouble's over, but it seems to me the cattle-men have wasted a pile of dollars over him."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The boys are bringing them!"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They have taken the homesteaders out. The Sheriff has backed down."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Sling rifles! Keep your order and distance! Forward, boys!"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Keep your pace and distance!"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "We can't stay any longer, boys, but it wasn't your fault. It's a man you want for Sheriff,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No talking there! Gallop!"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Somebody riding here in a hurry!"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I guess some of those rascally rustlers have been driving off a steer again, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Can't you sing us something, Clavering?"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Never mind the story, Chris. I guess we know the rest. That man is riding hard, and you are as anxious as any of us,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You will be pleased to hear that some of our comrades have laid hands upon one of the leaders in the attack upon the jail, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They want to lodge him here until they can send for the Sheriff's posse, and of course I could only agree. Though the State seems bent on treating us somewhat meanly, we are, I believe, still loyal citizens, and I feel quite sure you will overlook any trifling inconvenience the arrival of the prisoner may cause you."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Doesn't he put it just a little curiously?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, said Christopher Allonby,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You don't understand. I am quite pleased with your uncle, but there's something that amuses me in the idea of jailing one's adversary from patriotic duty."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "There's a good deal of human nature in most of us, and it's about time we got even with one or two of them."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Find out about it, Chris, said Miss Allonby;"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It was done quite smartly, he said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "One of the homestead boys who had fallen out with Larry came over to us, and I fancy it was Clavering fixed the thing up with him. The boys didn't know he had deserted them, and the man he took the oats to believed in him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I can't remember you telling a tale so one could understand it, Chris, said Miss Allonby."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Why did he take the oats to him?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "They have their committees and executives, and when a man has to do anything they send a few grains of oats to him. One can't see much use in it, and we know 'most everything about them; but it makes the thing kind of impressive, and the rustler fancied our boy was square when he got them. He was to ride over alone and meet somebody from one of the other executives at night in a bluff. He went, and found a band of cattle-boys waiting for him. I believe he hadn't a show at all, for the man who went up to talk to him grabbed his rifle, but it seems he managed to damage one or two of them."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You don't know who he is?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, said the lad,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You can't be proud of them! It wasn't very American."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, we can't afford to be too particular, considering what we have at stake; though it might have sounded nicer if they had managed it differently. You don't sympathize with the homestead boys, Miss Torrance?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Of course not! said Hetty, with a little impatient gesture."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Still, that kind of meanness does not appeal to me. Even the men we don't like would despise it. They rode into the town without a cartridge in their rifles, and took out their friends in spite of the Sheriff, while the crowd looked on."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It was Larry Grant fixed that, and 'tisn't every day you can find a man like him. It 'most made me sick when I heard he had gone over to the rabble."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You were a friend of his?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Oh, yes; and a little shadow crept into Allonby's face."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But, that's over now. When a man goes back on his own folks there's only one way of treating him, and it's not going to be nice for Larry if we can catch him. We're in too tight a place to show the man who can hurt us most much consideration."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "They're right under this window, said his nephew."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Slip quietly behind the curtains, and I think you can see them."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "All these to make sure of one man, and they have tied his hands!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's quite evident they had too much trouble getting him to take any chances of losing him, he said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I wish the fellow would turn his head. I fancy I should know him."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "If I were a man I should go down and talk quite straight to them,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It's Larry!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, we have him at last, he said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Of course, one feels sorry; but he brought it on himself. They're going to put him into the stable."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I can't help it, Flo. If one could only make them let him go!"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You need not let any of them see it, said Miss Schuyler, sharply."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Sit quite still here and talk to me. Now, what right had those men to arrest him?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "It's quite simple, she said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "The Sheriff can call out any citizen to help him or send any man off after a criminal in an emergency. Of course, being a responsible man he stands in with us, and in times like these the arrangement suits everybody. We do what seems the right thing, and the Sheriff is quite pleased when we tell him."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes. It's delightfully simple. Still, wouldn't it make the thing more square if the other men had a good-natured Sheriff, too?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now you are laughing at me. The difference is that we are in the right."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "And Larry, of course, must be quite wrong!"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, said Hetty,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You tried to make me believe you didn't care for the man."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Can't you do a nice thing without asking questions? Larry was very good to me for years, and--I'm sorry for him. Any way, it's so easy. Chris is young, and you could fool any man with those big blue eyes if he let you look at him."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It was very hot inside--they would put so much wood in the stove, said Hetty."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Besides, Flo's fond of the moonlight."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Well, said Allonby,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If you look at it in one sense, that wasn't pretty. You are guarding the prisoner?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Yes, said the lad, with evident diffidence."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The boys who brought him here had 'bout enough of him, and they're resting, while ours are out on the range. I'm here for two hours any way. It's not quite pleasant to remember I'm watching Larry."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Of course! and Miss Schuyler nodded sympathetically."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Now, couldn't you just let us talk to him? The boys have cut his forehead, and Hetty wanted to bring him some balsam. I believe he used to be kind to her."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Now, don't be foolish, Chris. Of course, we had just to ask your uncle, but he would have wanted to come with us and would have asked so many questions, while we knew you would tell nobody anything. You know I can't help being sorry for Larry, and he has done quite a few nice things for you, too."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Miss Schuyler is going with you?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Of course, and Hetty smiled mischievously as she glanced at her companion."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Still, you needn't be jealous, Chris. I'll take the best care she doesn't make love to him."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Chris, she said,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It was only my fingers, Chris, and Flo wasn't the least nearer than she is now, she said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If you dared to think anything else, you would make me too angry. We'll bring this thing back to you in five minutes, but you wouldn't have us go in there quite defenceless. Now you walk across the corral, and wait until we tell you."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, he said decisively,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I'm staying right here."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'll wait where I am, she said drily,"
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I'm ever so sorry, Larry,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Well, he said,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Larry, you mustn't be bitter--but it was horribly mean. I couldn't help coming--I was afraid you would fancy I was proud of them."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, he said, sternly."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I couldn't have fancied that. There was nothing else?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Your head. It is horribly cut. We saw you from the window, and I fancied I could tie it up for you. You wouldn't mind if I tried, Larry? I have some balsam here, and I only want a little water."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There is some ready. Your friends don't treat their prisoners very well."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "No, he said,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You needn't be quite too horrid, Larry, and there was a quiver in her voice."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It wouldn't hurt you very much to take a little thing like that from me."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I think you had better take mine. If they found a lady's handkerchief round my head, Allonby's folks would wonder how it got there."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I used to wonder, Larry, how you were able to think of everything, she said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Now I have brought you something else; but you must promise not to hurt anybody belonging to Allonby with it."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I haven't grown bloodthirsty, Hetty, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Where did you get it?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It was Chris Allonby's. Flo and I fooled him and took it away. It was so delightfully easy. But you will keep it?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Just try to think, Hetty."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You are horribly unkind. Can't you take anything from me? Still--you--have got to think now. If I let you go, you will promise not to make any more trouble for my father and Allonby, or anybody?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Oh, of course you couldn't. I was sorry the last time I asked you, she said."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Larry, you make me feel horribly mean; but you would not do anything that would hurt them, unless it was quite necessary?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "No, said the man drily,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I don't think I'm going to have an opportunity."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You are. I came to let you go. It will be quite easy. Chris is quite foolish about Flo."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Doesn't it strike you that it would be very rough on Chris?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "If anyone must be hurt, I would sooner it was Chris than you."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "It is no use, Hetty, he said very quietly."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Chris would tell them nothing. There is no meanness in his father or him; but that wouldn't stop him thinking. Now, you will know I was right to-morrow. Take him back his pistol."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Larry, said the girl, with a little quiver in her voice,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "I haven't yet seen the man who was fit to brush the dust off your little shoes; but you don't look at these things quite as we do. Now Chris will be getting impatient. You must go."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "There is a window above the beams, where they pitch the grain-bags through, she said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Chris will go away in an hour or so, and the other man will only watch the door. There are horses in the corral behind the barn, and I've seen you ride the wickedest broncho without a saddle."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Do you know I was 'most afraid you were going to make trouble for me?"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "But if I had you wouldn't have told."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You have known me quite a long time, Hetty."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Now, she said,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I could have told you, Hetty,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Yes, said Hetty, with a little nod."
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He wouldn't go, and I feel so mean that I'm not fit to talk to you or anybody. But wait. You'll hear something before to-morrow."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He must have got away an hour ago, said somebody."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The best horse Allonby had in the corral isn't there now."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "He has got away. The best horse in the corral! Ten times as many of them couldn't bring him back,"
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "Hetty, said Miss Schuyler decisively,"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "Of course, she said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You don't know Larry. If they had all the Cedar boys, too, he would ride straight through them."
}
]
|
27115 | Unknown Title | Unknown Author | [
{
"from": "human",
"value": "You must have put a good many dollars into your ploughing, Larry, and the few I had have gone in the same way, he said."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "You see, it's a long while until harvest comes round, and a good many unexpected things seem to happen in this country. To be quite straight, is there much probability of our getting any of those dollars back?"
},
{
"from": "human",
"value": "I think there is, though I can't be sure. The legislature must do something for us sooner or later, while the fact that the cattle-men and the Sheriff have left us alone of late shows that they don't feel too secure. Still, there may be trouble. A good many hard cases have been coming in."
},
{
"from": "gpt",
"value": "The cattle-men would get them. It's dollars they're wanting, and the other men have a good many more than we have. By the way, shouldn't the man with the money you are waiting for turn up to-night?"
}
]
|
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