
In a sleepy cabin on Plenty Stone Creek, two rough‑and‑ready frontiersmen—Magpie Simpkins and his friend Ike—share a lazy summer morning over bacon and banter. Their conversation drifts from the value of common sense to the folly of book‑learned men, setting a tone that’s equal parts humor and hard‑won wisdom. The calm is shattered when a rattling bronc arrives, its rider a lanky, spectacles‑clad stranger whose appearance is as odd as his manners.
The newcomer, Professor Ajax Ulysses Green, steps out with a battered valise and a cryptic envelope addressed to Simpkins. His long neck, exaggerated hat, and peculiar gait hint at a scholarly mind out of place in the rugged west. As Magpie and Ike examine the letter, the stage is set for a clash between the professor’s “pet theory” and the seasoned roughness of the frontier, promising a tale of wit, witlessness, and unexpected adventure.
Language
en
Duration
~49 minutes (47K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Original publisher
United States: The Ridgway Company, 1922.
Credits
Roger Frank and Sue Clark
Release date
2022-08-23
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1883–1969
Best known for lively Western stories filled with humor, mystery, and ranch-country adventure, this Montana-born writer created the popular cowboy sleuths Hashknife Hartley and Sleepy Stevens. He also worked in Hollywood, writing for films from the silent era into the 1940s.
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