Good men and true, and Hit the line hard

BY EUGENE MANLOVE RHODES
AUTHOR OF BRANSFORD OF RAINBOW RANGE, THE DESIRE OF THE MOTH, WEST IS WEST, Etc.
ILLUSTRATIONS BY H. T. DUNN
NEW YORK GROSSET & DUNLAP PUBLISHERS
Made in the United States of America
Copyright, 1910, by HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
Copyright, 1920, by THE H. K. FLY COMPANY
“I always thought they were fabulous monsters.
Is it alive?”
— The Unicorn.
SUN and wind of thirty-six out-of-door years had tanned Mr. Jeff Bransford’s cheek to a rosy-brown, contrasting sharply with the whiteness of the upper part of his forehead, when exposed—as now—by the pushing up of his sombrero. These same suns and winds had drawn at the corners of his eyes a network of fine lines: but the brown eyes were undimmed, and his face had a light, sure look of unquenchable boyishness; sure mark of the unattached, and therefore carefree and irresponsible man, who, as the saying goes, “is at home wherever his hat is hung.”
The hat in question was a soft gray one, the crown deeply creased down the middle, the wide brim of it joyously atilt, merging insensibly from one wavy curve into another and on to yet a third, like Hogarth’s line of beauty.