The Further Adventures of Hank the Cowdog Read online

  “You might as well come out, Drover,” I said, peering into the darkness and trying to decide which stack of junk he was hiding behind: the paint cans, the windmill parts, the old tires, the electric fence batteries, the spare parts for the stock trailer, High Loper’s canoe, Sally May’s wedding presents—you could have lost three elephants in that place. “Come on, Drover, and face the music. I see you.”

  “We was only funnin’, Hank, it wasn’t real. Pete said so.”

  “You coming out or do I have to tear this place apart?”

  “I’m scared, Hank.”

  “Okay, you asked for it.”

  I waded in. When something got in my way, I just by George leveled it, knocked it aside, left it in rubble. You should have heard them paint cans clatter! I mean, when Hank the Cowdog gets on a case, nothing’s safe, especially a villain. It’s only a matter of time until I track him down and then you can imagine the terrible scene.

  Drover was in real peril.

  I tore the place apart, turned it upside-down, just about wore me out. “Drover, tell you what I’m gonna do. If you’ll turn yourself in, we’ll forget the death penalty. I’ll let you off with a good thrashing.”

  “I’m still scared, Hank. I’m too scared to walk.”

  “All right, a minor thrashing.”

  “I’m just petrified, Hank, I can’t move.”

  I thought for a long time. Justice has to be flexible. “Okay, here’s my last offer. If you’ll stand with your nose in the corner for fifteen minutes, we’ll let it slide this time.”

  He came out. He’d been under the canoe. Sure thought he was behind the paint cans. “Now you march down to the gas tanks and put your nose in the corner.”

  “Okay, Hank, but that’s a terrible punishment.”

  “You bet it is, and let this be a lesson to you.”

  We picked our way through the junk, across the cement floor to the door. When we got into the moonlight, Drover stopped. “Oh my gosh, Hank, look at you feet! You’re bleeding!”

  I glanced down. Sure ’nuff, my feet were covered with blood. Must have cut them on something sharp and terrible. I started getting faint from loss of blood. My legs got wobbly. “Rush me to the sewer, Drover, this is serious.”

  Drover sniffed the air. “Wait a minute. What’s that I smell?”

  Just before I lost consciousness, I sniffed the air. “Wait a minute. What’s that I smell? It’s paint, Drover, red paint. You saw something red and wet and jumped to conclusions. A lot of times you can study the clues, son, and figger these things out. Now march.”

  I marched him down to the gas tanks and stuck his nose in the corner. It was a terrible punishment, all right, but he had it coming.

  Well, it was great to be home again. I mean, in just a few days’ time, I’d managed to get all the loose ends tied together. I had my ranch back in order and things were running smoothly again.

  Just to give you an idea of how well things worked out, around seven o’clock in the morning I looked up in the sky and saw the silver monster bird again, but he wasn’t flying low this time, no siree, he was way the heck up there. I mean, you scare them birds bad enough and they’ll stay off your ranch. They know the meaning of danger.

  I was watching the monster bird pass over when I heard High Loper and Slim coming down the hill. I looked around and was shocked to see a smile on Loper’s face. And unless I was badly mistaken, he was even laughing to himself.

  “Hank, by golly, I just heard the good news. Billy called, and boy, was he steamed up! Said you gave his Doberman a licking. Heck of a deal, heck of a deal!” He whopped me on the side a couple of times, made me cough in fact, but that was okay. “This calls for a celebration. Double dog food, Hankie, come on boy, let’s go up to the machine shed.”

  Off we went: a loyal, courageous dog and his master. It was just by George a pretty touching moment in ranch history.

  But as you might expect, Drover tried to butt in—you know, as if he had done something to deserve special commendation, when in fact he was still on probation.

  “You stay here, son, and think about doing right for a change.”

  Loper chuckled all the way up the hill. “Just went over there and whipped that old Doberman, on his own ranch! I like that, Hank, shows spunk and spirit and vinegar and . . .”

  We had walked into the machine shed. Loper stopped. His smile began to droop, then it fell flat. He walked to the center of the room. Slim and I waited at the doorway. The place was . . . well, a little messy, shall we say.

  His eyes went to the paint cans and the big puddle of red on the floor. He looked at the red tracks on the cement. He looked at my red paws. I glanced around to cast an accusing eye at Drover, but naturally the little dunce wasn’t paying me any mind.

  I began to wag my tail.

  I can’t see that it would serve any purpose to go into details here. It should be clear by now that the machine shed was damaged in the line of duty. It should be clear that misunderstanding is just one of the prices of greatness.

  Those of us who live on the heights must live with the judgments of small minds. We can only hope that in the next life justice will reign.

  It reigns here, but it also hails.

  Further Reading

  Have you read all of Hank’s adventures?

  1 The Original Adventures of Hank the Cowdog

  2 The Further Adventures of Hank the Cowdog

  3 It’s a Dog’s Life

  4 Murder in the Middle Pasture

  5 Faded Love

  6 Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

  7 The Curse of the Incredible Priceless Corncob

  8 The Case of the One-Eyed Killer Stud Horse

  9 The Case of the Halloween Ghost

  10 Every Dog Has His Day

  11 Lost in the Dark Unchanted Forest

  12 The Case of the Fiddle-Playing Fox

  13 The Wounded Buzzard on Christmas Eve

  14 Hank the Cowdog and Monkey Business

  15 The Case of the Missing Cat

  16 Lost in the Blinded Blizzard

  17 The Case of the Car-Barkaholic Dog

  18 The Case of the Hooking Bull

  19 The Case of the Midnight Rustler

  20 The Phantom in the Mirror

  21 The Case of the Vampire Cat

  22 The Case of the Double Bumblebee Sting

  23 Moonlight Madness

  24 The Case of the Black-Hooded Hangmans

  25 The Case of the Swirling Killer Tornado

  26 The Case of the Kidnapped Collie

  27 The Case of the Night-Stalking Bone Monster

  28 The Mopwater Files

  29 The Case of the Vampire Vacuum Sweeper

  30 The Case of the Haystack Kitties

  31 The Case of the Vanishing Fishhook

  32 The Garbage Monster from Outer Space

  33 The Case of the Measled Cowboy

  34 Slim’s Good-bye

  35 The Case of the Saddle House Robbery

  36 The Case of the Raging Rottweiler

  37 The Case of the Deadly Ha-Ha Game

  38 The Fling

  39 The Secret Laundry Monster Files

  40 The Case of the Missing Bird Dog

  41 The Case of the Shipwrecked Tree

  42 The Case of the Burrowing Robot

  43 The Case of the Twisted Kitty

  44 The Dungeon of Doom

  45 The Case of the Falling Sky

  46 The Case of the Tricky Trap

  47 The Case of the Tender Cheeping Chickies

  48 The Case of the Monkey Burglar

  49 The Case of the Booby-Trapped Pickup

  50 The Case of the Most Ancient Bone

  51 The Case of the Blaz
ing Sky

  52 The Quest for the Great White Quail

  53 Drover’s Secret Life

  54 The Case of the Dinosaur Birds

  55 The Case of the Secret Weapon

  56 The Case of the Coyote Invasion

  57 The Disappearance of Drover

  58 The Case of the Mysterious Voice

  About the Author and Illustrator

  John R. Erickson, a former cowboy, has written numerous books for both children and adults and is best known for his acclaimed Hank the Cowdog series. He lives and works on his ranch in Perryton, Texas, with his family.

  Gerald L. Holmes has illustrated numerous cartoons and textbooks in addition to the Hank the Cowdog series. He lives in Perryton, Texas.

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