The Western Romance MEGAPACK ®: 20 Classic Tales Read online

  Table of Contents

  COPYRIGHT INFO

  A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

  The MEGAPACK™ Ebook Series

  A DAUGHTER OF THE DONS, by William Macleod Raine

  THE DUKE OF CHIMNEY BUTTE, by G. W. Ogden

  RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE, by Zane Grey

  THE RAINBOW TRAIL, by Zane Grey

  DESERT GOLD, by Zane Grey

  THE BORDER LEGION, by Zane Grey

  WILDFIRE, by Zane Grey

  THE HEART OF THE DESERT, by Honoré Willsie Morrow

  A TEXAS RANGER, by William MacLeod Raine

  A VOICE IN THE WILDERNESS, by Grace Livingston Hill

  GOD’S COUNTRY—AND THE WOMAN, by James Oliver Curwood

  THE EMIGRANT TRAIL, by Geraldine Bonner

  HER PRAIRIE KNIGHT, by B.M. Bower

  SKYRIDER, by B.M. Bower

  THE GIRL FROM MONTANA, by Grace Livingston Hill

  HEART OF THE SUNSET, by Rex Beach

  LETTERS OF A WOMAN HOMESTEADER, by Elinore Pruitt Stewart

  THE DAUGHTER OF A MAGNATE, by Frank H. Spearman

  THE DESERT VALLEY, by Jackson Gregory

  THE BEAUTIFUL EYES OF YSIDRIA, by Charles A. Gunnison

  COPYRIGHT INFO

  The Western Romance MEGAPACK™ is copyright © 2014 by Wildside Press, LLC. Cover art copyright © Igor Norman / Fotolia. All rights reserved.

  * * * *

  The MEGAPACK™ ebook series name is a trademark of Wildside Press, LLC. All rights reserved.

  A NOTE FROM THE PUBLISHER

  Romance and Westerns have always seemed to go together. In the 1940s and 1950s, there were even specialty magazines devoted to western romances...in which the romantic element most often took center stage.

  The 20 novels collected in The Western Romance MEGAPACK™ all have strong romantic plots, but they are first and foremost western historical fiction, by some of the top writers of western liternature. B.M. Bower, Zane Grey, James Oliver Curwood, and many others here are known primarily for there westerns. (Zane Grey is one of those authors, in fact, whose name is almost synonymous with the genre.)

  Enjoy!

  —John Betancourt

  Publisher, Wildside Press LLC

  www.wildsidepress.com

  ABOUT THE SERIES

  Over the last few years, our MEGAPACK™ ebook series has grown to be our most popular endeavor. (Maybe it helps that we sometimes offer them as premiums to our mailing list!) One question we keep getting asked is, “Who’s the editor?”

  The MEGAPACK™ ebook series (except where specifically credited) are a group effort. Everyone at Wildside works on them. This includes John Betancourt (me), Carla Coupe, Steve Coupe, Shawn Garrett, Helen McGee, Bonner Menking, Colin Azariah-Kribbs, A.E. Warren, and many of Wildside’s authors…who often suggest stories to include (and not just their own!)

  RECOMMEND A FAVORITE STORY?

  Do you know a great classic science fiction story, or have a favorite author whom you believe is perfect for the MEGAPACK™ ebook series? We’d love your suggestions! You can post them on our message board at http://movies.ning.com/forum (there is an area for Wildside Press comments).

  Note: we only consider stories that have already been professionally published. This is not a market for new works.

  TYPOS

  Unfortunately, as hard as we try, a few typos do slip through. We update our ebooks periodically, so make sure you have the current version (or download a fresh copy if it’s been sitting in your ebook reader for months.) It may have already been updated.

  If you spot a new typo, please let us know. We’ll fix it for everyone. You can email the publisher at [email protected] or use the message boards above.

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  A DAUGHTER OF THE DONS, by William Macleod Raine

  A Story of New Mexico Today

  Originally published in 1914.

  CHAPTER I

  DON MANUEL INTRODUCES HIMSELF

  For hours Manuel Pesquiera had been rolling up the roof of the continent in an observation-car of the “Short Line.”

  His train had wound in and out through a maze of bewildering scenery, and was at last dipping down into the basin of the famous gold camp.

  The alert black eyes of the young New Mexican wandered discontentedly over the raw ugliness of the camp. Towns straggled here and there untidily at haphazard, mushroom growths of a day born of a lucky “strike.” Into the valleys and up and down the hillsides ran a network of rails for trolley and steam cars. Everywhere were the open tunnel mouths or the frame shaft-houses perched above the gray Titan dump beards.

  The magic that had wonderfully brought all these manifold activities into being had its talisman in the word “Gold”; but, since Pesquiera had come neither as a prospector nor investor, he heard with only half-concealed impatience the easy gossip of his fellow travelers about the famous ore producers of the district.

  It was not until his inattentive ears caught the name of Dick Gordon that he found interest in the conversation.

  “Pardon, sir! Are you acquaint’ with Mr. Richard Gordon?” he asked, a touch of the gentle Spanish accent in his voice.

  The man to whom he had spoken, a grizzled, weather-beaten little fellow in a corduroy suit and white, broad-brimmed felt hat, turned his steady blue eyes on his questioner a moment before he answered:

  “I ought to know him, seeing as I’m his partner.”

  “Then you can tell me where I may find him?”

  “Yes, sir, I can do that. See that streak of red there on the hill—the one above the big dump. That’s the shafthouse of the Last Dollar. Drop down it about nine hundred feet and strike an airline west by north for about a quarter of a mile, and you’d be right close to him. He’s down there, tackling a mighty uncertain proposition. The shaft and the workings of the Last Dollar are full of water. He’s running a crosscut from an upraise in the Radley drift, so as to tap the west tunnel of the Last Dollar.”

  “It is dangerous, you inform me?”