The Virginian, the Eating-house

Then I heard a fellow greet my Virginian. He came happily out of a door, and made a pass with his hand at the Virginian's hat. The Southerner avoided it, and I saw once more the tiger undulation of body, and knew my escort was he of the rope and the corral.

"How are yu' Steve?" he said to the man. And in his tone I heard instantly old friendship speaking. With Steve he would take and give familiarity.

Steve looked at me, and looked away—and that was all. But it was enough. In no company had I ever felt so much an outsider. Yet I liked the company, and wished that it would like me.

"Just come to town?" inquired Steve of the Virginian.

"Been here since noon. Been waiting for the train."

The Virginian, Medicine Bow

Now, what I had seen of "town" was, to my newly arrived eyes, altogether horrible. If I could possibly sleep at the Judge's ranch, I preferred to do so.

"Is it too far to drive there to-night?" I inquired.

He looked at me in a puzzled manner.

"For this bag," I explained, "contains all that I immediately need; in fact, I could do without my trunk for a day or two, if it is not convenient to send. So if we could arrive there not too late by starting at once—" I paused.

"It's two hundred and sixty-three miles," said the Virginian.

The Virginian, the Tall Man

Have you ever seen a cockatoo—the white kind with the top-knot—enraged by insult? The bird erects every available feather upon its person. So did Uncle Hughey seem to swell, clothes, mustache, and woolly white beard; and without further speech he took himself on board the Eastbound train, which now arrived from its siding in time to deliver him…

With him now the Eastbound departed slowly into that distance whence I had come. I stared after it as it went its way to the far shores of civilization. It grew small in the unending gulf of space, until all sign of its presence was gone save a faint trace of smoke against the evening sky. And now my lost trunk came back into my thoughts, and Medicine Bow seemed a lonely spot.

El Virginiano, tío y sobrino

“¿Por qué vistes ropas de boda?”, dijo con admiración. “¿Quién es la afortunada?”

El viejo pareció vibrar, “Te digo que no hay otra. Nómbrame a mis esposas. Nómbrame dos. Nómbrame una.”

“Esa viuda en Laramie que te prometió…”

“Tonterías”

“Solo que su doctor de pronto le ordenó el clima del sur y…”

“Tonterías. Falsa alarma.”

“… entonces nada, solo sus pulmones se interpusieron. Y después te uniste con Cattle Kate, solo…”

El Virginiano. Un vaquero de la pradera

Algo atraía a los pasajeros a la ventana, por lo que me levanté y crucé para ver lo que era. Vi cerca de la pista un recinto, y alrededor de él algunos hombres riendo, y dentro de él un poco de polvo, y en medio del polvo algunos caballos corriendo. Eran cow ponis en un corral, y uno de ellos no podía ser capturado. Teníamos un montón de tiempo para ver este deporte, pues nuestro tren se había detenido para cargar agua en el tanque junto a la plataforma de la estación de Medicine Bow. Estábamos con seis horas de retraso, y hambrientos de entretenimiento.  El poni en el corral era inteligente, y rápido de patas.