the Rustlers Of West Fork (1951) by Louis - Hopalong 03 L'amour

originally braced, and that it had not taken place on Circle J range, but on Thatcher's own land.
    "Dick inside? I'd like to see him."
    "He'll be glad to see you too," Sparr said quietly; "but it can't be for a couple of hours. He never wakes much before ten, an' the doc wants him to get plenty of sleep."
    His cold eyes met Hopalong's and they held for a minute. Then his frozen, hard face cracked in a smile.
    "Had breakfast? We just et, an' cook's not cleaned up yet. Come on in." Anson Mowry stood in the door of the bunkhouse staring in open-eyed disbelief. Hopalong Cassidy here! Being received as a guest! He started for the house, hopping mad, then slowed down. After all, his hand was in bad shape.
    It would be better to wait, to be careful.
    Avery Sparr understood the situation, and with surprising ease he went up the steps first, followed by Soper. It was one of those cases when allowing a guest to come in last was definitely the most polite way. Hopalong grinned to himself, but behind the frosty blue eyes he was thinking fast.
    The table was still a litter of dishes, and Sparr waved him to a place. Both men seated themselves, and Sparr called for coffee and breakfast for one. Hopalong looked up as the cook came in, then stopped, his mouth open. Standing in the door was one of the prettiest girls he had ever seen.

    Chapter 6
    BIZCO TMES LEAD MEDICINE
    Ironically enough, the first thing Hopalong thought of when he saw Pamela Jordan was how Bizco had laughed when he described her as all knees and freckles. No wonder he had laughed, and no wonder the description of her had stuck even in the mind of a dying outlaw, for this girl was slim, trim, and lovely. She was eighteen, but a woman in every sense. Not beautiful, but pretty, and with a strength and lithe awareness the West gives to its women. On her part she was even more astonished. She recognized him instantly, but somehow she had been expecting an older man. He was a man when she was still a child, yet girls come suddenly to womanhood; so suddenly, on occasion, that it leaves one gasping, and so it had been with her. Three years are not many in the life of a man, but the three years of a girl's life from fifteen to eighteen can mean much.
    The man she saw was dressed no differently from any Western man except for the silver guns that she remembered so well. His face, already weather-beaten when she first knew him, was unchanged.
    If lines had deepened, she was not aware of it.
    Constant riding had trimmed him down, as it did all these men of the saddle. They rarely carried excess weight.
    There was visible within him some of that vitality which life against the wind and under the sun and rain builds in a man. He had resistance and strength, and in every move, every change of expression, there was the mark of the man he was. His smile was quick. "Howdy, Pam! It's been a long time."
    She had no idea what the situation was, and for an instant he was worried for fear some inadvertent or ill-considered remark might blow off a lid that Sparr had clamped on, and which Cassidy accepted as the best thing for the moment. A moment later and he knew he need not have worried. This girl had known her own trials, and she had grown with them. "It's good to see you, Hoppy."
    She came swiftly around the table to him and offered him both her hands. He took them and squeezed them gently, seeing the fear, doubt, puzzled worry, and hope that was in her eyes.
    "Are-are you going to be around long?"
    The question pleased him. It gave him a chance to make a reply he wanted to make. "Why, shore, Pam."
    His eyes lifted to those of Avery Sparr.
    "I'll be around until your dad is able to be up and around again, running things for himself."
    Then he added, also for their information, "Sent word down to the bank at McClellan that I was comin' here. Had some news for your dad from Josh Ledbetter and Buck, but that can wait."
    "All right. See you later." She turned swiftly away, and Sparr stopped her