The Untamed by Max Brand MP3 Audiobook

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The Untamed by Max Brand
1949 Whistlin' Dan Barry was slight, but with something more of wolf than of man in him…

Product Code: 232

Digital Audiobook -- in stock

US$9.95

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All works by Max Brand

Availability: Usually ships within 48 hours. Ships from and sold by Babblebooks.com.

Running time: 7 hr 9 min

The unabridged classic on MP3 audio, narrated by Anais 9000. Three playback speeds on one disk; etext edition included. Running time: 7.2 hours (slow), 6.5 hours (medium), 6.0 hours (fast).

Chapter I Pan of the Desert

Even to a high-flying bird this was a country to be passed over quickly. It was burned and brown, littered with fragments of rock, whether vast or small, as if the refuse were tossed here after the making of the world. A passing shower drenched the bald knobs of a range of granite hills and the slant morning sun set the wet rocks aflame with light. In a short time the hills lost their halo and resumed their brown. The moisture evaporated. The sun rose higher and looked sternly across the desert as if he searched for any remaining life which still struggled for existence under his burning curse.

And he found life. Hardy cattle moved single or in small groups and browsed on the withered bunch grass. Summer scorched them, winter humped their backs with cold and arched up their bellies with famine, but they were a breed schooled through generations for this fight against nature. In this junk-shop of the world, rattlesnakes were rulers of the soil. Overhead the buzzards, ominous black specks pendant against the white-hot sky, ruled the air.

It seemed impossible that human beings could live in this rock-wilderness. If so, they must be to other men what the lean, hardy cattle of the hills are to the corn-fed stabled beeves of the States.

Over the shoulder of a hill came a whistling which might have been attributed to the wind, had not this day been deathly calm. It was fit music for such a scene, for it seemed neither of heaven nor earth, but the soul of the great god Pan come back to earth to charm those nameless rocks with his wild, sweet piping. It changed to harmonious phrases loosely connected. Such might be the exultant improvisations of a master violinist.

A great wolf, or a dog as tall and rough coated as a wolf, trotted around the hillside. He paused with one foot lifted and lolling, crimson tongue, as he scanned the distance and then turned to look back in the direction from which he had come. The weird music changed to whistled notes as liquid as a flute. The sound drew closer. A horseman rode out on the shoulder and checked his mount. One could not choose him at first glance as a type of those who fight nature in a region where the thermometer moves through a scale of a hundred and sixty degrees in the year to an accompaniment of cold-stabbing winds and sweltering suns. A thin, handsome face with large brown eyes and black hair, a body tall but rather slenderly made--he might have been a descendant of some ancient family of Norman nobility; but could such proud gentry be found riding the desert in a tall-crowned sombrero with chaps on his legs and a red bandana handkerchief knotted around his throat? That first glance made the rider seem strangely out of place in such surroundings. One might even smile at the contrast, but at the second glance the smile would fade, and at the third, it would be replaced with a stare of interest. It was impossible to tell why one respected this man, but after a time there grew a suspicion of unknown strength in this lone rider, strength like that of a machine which is stopped but only needs a spark of fire to plunge it into irresistible action. Strangely enough, the youthful figure seemed [...]

"you've said that before shorty i'm runnin' this gang tell me about hardy"

"i'm comin' to that i went into wells fargo office down by railroad an' clerk sent me back to find hardy in back room where he generally is when he seen me he changed colour i'd jest popped my head through door an' sung out 'hello hardy how's boy' he jumped up from desk an' sung out so's his clerk in outside room could hear 'how are you lad' an' he pulled me quick into room an' locked door behind me

"'now what in hell have you come to elkhead for' says he

"'for a drink' says i never battin' an eye

"'you've come a damn long ways' says he

"'sure' says i 'that's one reason i'm so dry will you liquor pal'

"he looked like he needed a drink all right he begun loosening his short collar

"'thanks but i ain't drinkin'' says he 'look here shorty are you loco to come ridin' into elkhead this way'

"'i'm jest beginnin' to think maybe i am' says i

"'shorty' he says in a whisper 'they're beginnin' to get wise to whole gang--includin' me'

"'take a brace' says i 'they ain't got a thing on you hardy'

"'that don't keep 'em from thinkin' a hell of a pile' says he 'an' i tell you shorty i'm jest about through with whole works it ain't worth it--not if there was a million in it everybody is gettin' wise to silent an' rest of you pretty soon hell's goin' to bust loose'

"'you've been sayin' that for two years' says i

"he stopped an' looked at me sort of thoughtful an' pityin' then he steps up close to me an' whispers in that voice 'd'you know who's on silent's trail now eh'

"'no an' i don't give a damn' says i free an' careless

"'tex calder' says he"

silent started violently and his hand moved instinctively to his six-gun

"did he say tex calder"

"he said no less" answered shorty rhineheart "and waited to see his news take effect silent stood with head bowed scowling

"tex calder's a fool" he said at last "he ought to know better'n to take to my trail"

"he's fast with his gun" suggested shorty

"don't i know that" said silent "if alvarez an' bradley an' hunter an' god knows how many more could come up out of their graves they'd tell jest how quick he is with a six-gun but i'm one man on range that's faster"

shorty was eloquently mute

"i ain't askin' you to take my word for it" said jim silent "now that he's after me i'm glad of it it had to come some day mountains ain't big enough for both of us to go rangin' forever we had to lock horns some day an' i say god help tex calder"

he turned abruptly to rest of men

"boys i got somethin' to tell you that shorty jest heard tex calder is after us"

there was a fluent outburst of cursing

silent went on "i know jest how slick calder is i'm bettin' on my draw to be jest necessary half a hair quicker he may die shootin' i don't lay no bets that i c'n nail him before he gets his iron out of its leather but i say he'll be shooting' blind when he dies is there any one takin' that bet"

his eyes challenged them one after another their glances travelled past silent as if they were telling over and over to themselves stories of those many men to whom tex calder had played part of fate leader turned back to shorty rhinehart

"now tell me what he had to say about coin"

"hardy says shipment's delayed he don't know how long"

"how'd it come to be delayed"

"he figures that wells fargo got a hunch that silent was layin' for train that was to carry it"

"will he let us know when it does come through"

"i asked him an' he jest hedged he's quitting on us cold"

"i was a fool to send you shorty i'm goin' myself an' if hardy don't come through to me----"

he broke off and announced to rest of his gang that he intended to make journey to elkhead he told haines who in such cases usually acted as lieutenant to take charge of camp then he saddled his roan

in very act of pulling up cinch of his saddle silent stopped short turned and raised his hand for quiet rest were instantly still hal purvis leaned his weazened face towards ground in this manner it was sometimes possible to detect far-off sounds which to one erect would be inaudible in a moment however he straightened up shaking his head

"what is it" whispered haines

"shut up" muttered silent and words were formed by motion of his lips rather than through any sound "that damned whistling again"

every face changed at a rustling in a near-by willow terry jordan started and then cursed softly to himself that broke spell

"it's whisperin' of willows" said purvis

"you lie" said silent hoarsely "i hear sound growing closer"

"barry is dead" said haines

silent whipped out his revolver--and then shoved it back into holster

"stand by me boys" he pleaded "it's his ghost come to haunt me you can't hear it because he ain't come for you"

they stared at him with a fascinated horror

"how do you know it's him" asked shorty rhinehart

"there ain't no sound in whole world like it it's a sort of cross between singing of a bird an' wailin' of wind it's ghost of whistlin' dan"

tall roan raised his head and whinnied softly it was an unearthly effect--as if animal heard sound which was inaudible to all but his master it changed big jim silent into a quavering coward here were five practised fighters who feared nothing between heaven and hell but what could they avail him against a bodiless spirit whistling stopped he breathed again but only for a moment

it began again and this time much louder and nearer surely others must hear it now or else it was certainly a ghost men sat with dilated eyes for an instant and then hal purvis cried "i heard it chief if it's a ghost it's hauntin' me too"

silent cursed loudly in his relief

"it ain't a ghost it's whistlin' dan himself an' terry jordan has been carryin' us lies what in hell do you mean by it"

"i ain't been carryin' you lies" said jordan hotly "i told you what i heard i didn't never say that there was any one seen his dead body"

whistling began to die out a babble of conjecture and exclamation broke out but jim silent still sickly white around mouth swung up into saddle

"that whistlin' dan i'm leavin' to you haines" he called "i've had his blood onct an' if i meet him agin there's goin' to be another notch filed into my shootin' iron"

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