
A ragtag committee of locals—Magpie Simpkins, Judge Steele, Buck Masterson, and a few outspoken strangers—gathers in a dusty tavern to plot the town’s biggest show. Their agenda? Find a shining star and a proper camel‑like beast for a desert‑themed spectacle, all while dodging bureaucratic hiccups and each other’s flamboyant ideas. The dialogue crackles with slang, one‑liners, and a palpable sense that anything could happen before the first curtain lifts.
Enter Maud, a towering mule with a glass eye, a crooked neck and a disdain for humans—a creature as stubborn as the town’s old legends. When the opportunistic Wick Smith tries to barter her for a distant tribe, the whole group spirals into a wild chase filled with tall tales and half‑hearted promises. Listeners are treated to a slapstick, western‑flavored ride that balances quick‑witted repartee with the rough‑and‑tumble charm of frontier life.
Language
en
Duration
~44 minutes (42K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
United States: The Ridgway Company, 1922.
Credits
Roger Frank and Sue Clark
Release date
2021-11-26
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1883–1969
A hugely popular western storyteller of the pulp-magazine era, this Montana-born writer published more than 1,000 stories and dozens of novels. He is especially remembered for the adventures of Hashknife Hartley and Sleepy Stevens, two cowboy heroes with a strong comic streak.
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