But you’ll be proud to know that once we got moving, I climbed out of my bunker and delivered one last barrage of barking to the coyotes.
“Hey, Scraunch, I kissed your sister! What do you say about that, huh? And next time, I’ll kiss her twice, and if you don’t like it, you can go sit on a tack! Ha.”
It was a huge moral victory for the Security Division, which only goes to prove . . . well, if you’re going to mouth off to a cannibal, do it from a moving pickup.
When we got back to headquarters, Slim kicked us out. “I’ve got three more pastures to feed and y’all can’t go. Too many clowns can spoil a circus. When I get my old pickup back, we’ll be hiring dogs again.”
Gee, what got him in such a snit? Oh well.
For two long days, Slim fed cattle by himself. Then, on Wednesday morning, he left the ranch at 6:30, drove the Booby-Trapped Pickup into town, and returned around 9:00, driving the old junk heap we had all come to love and respect. It smelled bad, it smoked and wheezed, it rattled and clanged, but it was our old pickup—and it didn’t have guillotine windows.
And that’s about it. Drover and I got our jobs back and Slim got his dogs back. I had survived the Booby-Trapped Pickup, won the heart of Missy Coyote, and cleaned house on the entire Coyote Army. Oh, happy day! Life was good again.
Fellers, it doesn’t get any better than that. This case is 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
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
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.