“Life’s full of surprises, ain’t it? Put your hands behind your back.”
Slim tied his hands with baling twine and we hauled him back to headquarters. Loper called the law and Officers Hataway and Kile came back to collect Lester the Outlaw.
That was his name, Lester Somebody. He wasn’t a poor cobbler, he didn’t have five hungry children, and his wife didn’t work at the Dairy Queen. He was well-known to law enforcement officers in Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma. They’d been trying for months to catch him and . . .
I’m not one to criticize the work of our law enforcement personnel, but if they’d called me into the case a little sooner . . . oh well, things turned out well enough.
In fact, they turned out great. We got all the saddles and bridles back. I was restored to my position as Head of Ranch Security and—get this—received many pats on the head and thirteen “Good Dogs” from Sheriff Hataway and Deputy Kile. Pretty impressive, huh? You bet it was.
But even more heart-rendering was the ceremony on the front porch after the officers left the ranch. The Special Guest of Honor turned out to be . . . well, ME, you might say, and it turned out to be a very moving and emotional ceremony.
After disposing the ranch’s Highest Award for Bravery upon me . . . bestowing, I should say . . . after the so-forth, Loper apologized for screeching at me and calling me hateful names.
And then—you won’t believe this—Sally May herself delivered a long and touching speech about . . . okay, maybe it wasn’t so long and maybe it wasn’t so touching, but it was a speech . . . sort of.
What she said was that she was now willing to . . . how did she put it? She was now willing to “zero out” my “long list of sins, crimes, and buffoonery” and start all over with our relationship.
Does it get any better than that? Not on this ranch. And before we find out what Sally May meant by “baffoonery,” let’s shut ’er down and get some sleep.
Case cl . . .
Wait a minute, hold everything. I forgot about Jake. You’re probably wondering what happened to him. Here’s the deal.
After all the ceremonies and so forth were over, after the cheers of the crowd had faded into memories, Slim began wondering what had become of Jake.
After looking around for half an hour, he finally called me into the case. I led him straight to the pickup and pointed toward the tarp in the back. He jerked it back and there was Jake, glaring at us. Guess what he said.
He said, “Get off this ship, you squids, or I’ll have you walking the plank!”
About an hour later, a pickup rolled into headquarters. It was Jake’s owner, a tall, skinny guy with a beard named Bill. That was the name of the man, not the beard. Beards don’t . . . skip it. The point is that Jake was his dog.
Bill turned out to be a gold prospector from . . . somewhere . . . and he was looking for the long-lost King Solemnly’s Mine. Loper explained that we were fresh out of gold mines on the ranch, and they left. As they drove away, Jake was standing up in the back of the pickup, like a captain looking out to sea.
And that’s about the end of the story. Pretty good one, huh? You bet.
Case closed.
I just wish Beulah had been there.
Further Reading
Have you read all of Hank’s adventures?
1 The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog
2 The Further Adventures of Hank the Cowdog
3 It’s a Dog’s Life
4 Murder in the Middle Pasture
5 Faded Love
6 Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
7 The Curse of the Incredible Priceless Corncob
8 The Case of the One-Eyed Killer Stud Horse
9 The Case of the Halloween Ghost
10 Every Dog Has His Day
11 Lost in the Dark Unchanted Forest
12 The Case of the Fiddle-Playing Fox
13 The Wounded Buzzard on Christmas Eve
14 Hank the Cowdog and Monkey Business
15 The Case of the Missing Cat
16 Lost in the Blinded Blizzard
17 The Case of the Car-Barkaholic Dog
18 The Case of the Hooking Bull
19 The Case of the Midnight Rustler
20 The Phantom in the Mirror
21 The Case of the Vampire Cat
22 The Case of the Double Bumblebee Sting
23 Moonlight Madness
25 The Case of the Swirling Killer Tornado
26 The Case of the Kidnapped Collie
27 The Case of the Night-Stalking Bone Monster
28 The Mopwater Files
29 The Case of the Vampire Vacuum Sweeper
30 The Case of the Haystack Kitties
31 The Case of the Vanishing Fishhook
32 The Garbage Monster from Outer Space
33 The Case of the Measled Cowboy
34 Slim’s Good-bye
35 The Case of the Saddle House Robbery
36 The Case of the Raging Rottweiler
37 The Case of the Deadly Ha-Ha Game
38 The Fling
39 The Secret Laundry Monster Files
40 The Case of the Missing Bird Dog
41 The Case of the Shipwrecked Tree
42 The Case of the Burrowing Robot
43 The Case of the Twisted Kitty
44 The Dungeon of Doom
45 The Case of the Falling Sky
46 The Case of the Tricky Trap
47 The Case of the Tender Cheeping Chickies
48 The Case of the Monkey Burglar
49 The Case of the Booby-Trapped Pickup
50 The Case of the Most Ancient Bone
51 The Case of the Blazing Sky
52 The Quest for the Great White Quail
53 Drover’s Secret Life
54 The Case of the Dinosaur Birds
55 The Case of the Secret Weapon
56 The Case of the Coyote Invasion
57 The Disappearance of Drover
58 The Case of the Mysterious Voice
59 The Case of the Perfect Dog
60 The Big Question
61 The Case of the Prowling Bear
About the Author and Illustrator
John R. Erickson, a former cowboy, has written numerous books for both children and adults and is best known for his acclaimed Hank the Cowdog series. He lives and works on his ranch in Perryton, Texas, with his family.
Gerald L. Holmes has illustrated numerous cartoons and textbooks in addition to the Hank the Cowdog series. He lives in Perryton, Texas.