Max Brand

Name: The Night Horseman — XI. The Buzzard
Author: Max Brand

The Night Horseman — XI. The Buzzard (1920)

Summary

“The Night Horseman — XI. The Buzzard”, published in 1920, is a work by Max Brand. It explores elements such as Mac Strann, Haw-Haw Langley and Jerry Strann.

Quotes from The Night Horseman — XI. The Buzzard (Max Brand)

Max Brand, The Night Horseman — XI. The Buzzard (1920)

“ His torso was a veritable barrel that bulged out both in the chest and the back. And even the tremendous thighs of Mac Strann were perceptibly bowed out by the weight which they had to carry. And there was about his management of his arms a peculiar awkwardness which only the very strongest of men exhibit—as if they were burdened by the weight of their mere dangling hands.
This giant, having placed his eyes in shadow, peered for a long moment at Haw-Haw Langley, but very soon his glance began to waver. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Max Brand, The Night Horseman — XI. The Buzzard (1920)

“ Haw-Haw Langley bit his thin lips and his eyes widened almost to the normal.
For the ugliness of Mac Strann was that most terrible species of ugliness—not disfigured features but a discord which pervaded the man and came from within him—like a sound. Feature by feature his face was not ugly. The mouth was very large, to be sure, and the jaw too heavily square, and the nose needed somewhat greater length and less width for real comeliness. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Max Brand, The Night Horseman — XI. The Buzzard (1920)

“ It was a man who carried a burden down the mountain-side. The burden was the carcass of a bear; the man had drawn the forelegs over his shoulders—his jutting elbows making what had seemed the outstretched arms—and above the head of the burden-bearer rose the great head of the bear. As the man came closer the animal's head flopped to one side and a red tongue lolled from its mouth. Haw-Haw Langley moved back step by step through the cabin until his shoulders struck the opposite wall, and at the same time Mac Strann entered the room. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Max Brand, The Night Horseman — XI. The Buzzard (1920)

“ He's got a voice like Kitty Jackson, the school-marm; and he's got eyes like a starved pup. It was him that done it."
The eyes of Mac Strann grew vaguely meditative.
"Nope," he mused, in answer to his own thoughts, "I won't use no rope. I'll use my hands. Where'd the bullet land?" A fresh agony of trembling shook Langley, and a fresh sparkle came in his glance.
"Betwixt his ribs, Mac. And right on through. And it come out his back!"
But there was not an answering tremor in Mac Strann. He let his hands fall away from the face of the vulture and he caught up the saddle. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Max Brand, The Night Horseman — XI. The Buzzard (1920)

“ Most animals have their human counterparts, and in that room where Jerry Strann had fallen a whimsical observer might have termed Jerry, with his tawny head, the lion, and O'Brien behind the bar, a shaggy bear, and the deputy marshal a wolverine, fat but dangerous, and here stood a man as ugly and hardened as a desert cayuse, and there was Dan Barry, sleek and supple as a panther ”

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Source: Wikisource

Max Brand, The Night Horseman — XI. The Buzzard (1920)

“ One would have said that the horse was a freak meant by nature for the climbing of hills. And to glance at it no man could suppose that those ponderous limbs might be moved to a gallop. However, Haw-Haw Langley well knew the powers of the ugly beast, and he even made a detour and walked about the horse to view it more closely. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Max Brand, The Night Horseman — XI. The Buzzard (1920)

“ They heard Dan Barry's soft, gentle voice query: "How you feelin' now, partner?"
He leaned close beside the other, his fingers upon the wrist of Jerry.
"A pile better," muttered Jerry Strann. "Seems like I got more'n a fightin' chance to pull through now."
"Jest you keep lyin' here quiet," advised Dan Barry, "and don't stir around none. Don't start no worryin'. You're goin' to live's long as you don't lose no more blood. Keep your thoughts quiet. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Max Brand, The Night Horseman — XI. The Buzzard (1920)

“ They ain't no cause for you to do nothin' but jest keep your eyes closed, and breathe, and think of yaller sunshine, and green grass in the spring, and the wind lazyin' the clouds along across the sky. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Max Brand, The Night Horseman — XI. The Buzzard (1920)

“ The smoke must rise, therefore, and escape through the small hole in the centre of the roof. The length of stove-pipe which showed on the roof must have been simply the inhabitant's idea of giving the last delicate touch of civilisation ”

Max Brand

Summary

Quotes from The Night Horseman — XI. The Buzzard (Max Brand)

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