Elam Storm, The Wolfer (e-book) (used book) | bookbook.eu

Description

This tale belongs to the Lucky Series and tells of life in the West when a man wrung his sustenance from the woods and the earth by the sweat of his brow and protected himself from death by starvation or the tomahawk as best he could. Elam Storm, when a little boy, had been with his father and a train of Government guards, when the whole company had been wiped out of existence by robber desperadoes. The money the train carried had been divided, and a nugget belonging to Elam Storm's father had been buried somewhere. Elam alone had survived and this story tells of his for and discovery of the nugget lost, so long ago.
(Source "The Critic," Volume 26, June 22, 1895.)

Excerpt from Elam Storm, the Wolfer: Or the Lost Nugget
"Yes, sir; it's just like I tell you. Every coyote on this here ranch, mean and sneaking as he is, is worth forty dollars to the man who can catch him." "Then what is the reason Carlos and I can't make some money this winter?" "You mout, and then again you moutn't. It aint everybody who can coax one of them smart prowlers to stick his foot in a trap. If that was the case, my neighbors would have had more sheep, and Elam Storm would be worth a bushel of dollars." "And you are going to grub-stake him again this winter, are you, Uncle Ezra?" "Sure. I always do." "What is the reason you won't let us go with him to the mountains?" "'Cause I know that your folks aint so tired of you that they are ready to lose you yet awhile; that's why." "Only just a few days. We'll come back at the end of the week if you say so, won't we, Carlos?" "'Taint no use of talking, Ben; not a bit. Man alive! what would I say to the major if anything should happen to you? And going off with Elam Storm! That would be the worst yet." "But Elam is honest and reliable. You have said so more than once, Uncle Ezra.