“But you know what they say.”
“What do they say, darlin’? I’m dying to hear.”
She leaned toward me and whispered, “When you’re lucky, you don’t need brains.”
I stiffened. “I have no idea what you mean by that, madame.”
“Look, Leroy, I was awake and saw the whole thing. If those coyotes hadn’t blundered into camp, you would have stolen that bone and there would be a price on your head right now.”
I beamed her a look of righteous indigestion. “You know, I think it’s over between us, and for your information, my name is not Leroy.”
“Yeah? Well, here’s a flash. My name isn’t Sardina, and I don’t have a sister.”
“That’s not possible. I met her myself.”
“And I don’t have a brother named Choo Choo.”
“Huh? You mean . . .?”
“Meathead.”
Anyway, it was mostly a great day, and I’d never had the slightest interest in that woman from Boston. The next time she meets a lobster on the beach, I hope it bites her right on the end of her snooty little nose.
The important thing is that I had solved The Case of the Most Ancient Bone and had won the hearts of arkinsawlogists all over Texas. The excavation went on for three more days and the guys from our ranch stayed for the whole thing. They even decided that it was pretty interesting work . . . although I must report that after one night of camping The Cowboy Way, Slim slipped away for an hour and came back with an air mattress. I have no idea where he found it.
Oh, and I’m proud to report that when I got back to the ranch, I caught Mister Kitty Precious outside the yard and away from his iris patch. Tee hee. I ran him up a tree and barked at him for three solid hours, until Sally May . . .
Never mind. The point is that I enjoyed another huge moral victory over the cat and lived everly happy afterly, and this story is finished.
Case closed.
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
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 Blazing 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
59 The Case of the Perfect Dog
60 The Big Question
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.