The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog. John R. Erickson

for the machine shed.

      The lights came on down at the house. The door slammed and I heard Loper running toward me. I hoped he had the gun. I was getting beat up and tired. I wasn’t sure I could keep up the fight much longer.

      The gun exploded, lit up the night. The monster ran and I started after him, ready to give him the coop de grass, as we say, but Loper called me back. I figgered he didn’t want to risk losing the Head of Ranch Security, which seemed pretty sensible to me.

      So I went back to him, limping on all four legs at once because they all hurt, and so did everything else. Wagging my tail, I went up to him, ready for my reward.

      I didn’t get no reward. To make a long story short, Drover had sent me into battle against the milk cow and I got cursed for it.

      I thought very seriously about terminating Drover—I mean his life, not his job—but I couldn’t find him in the machine shed. So I dragged my battered carcass down to the gas tanks and curled up on my gunnysack bed.

      I could have sworn that was a monster.