Buff: A Collie and other dog-stories, by Albert Payson Terhune.CHAPTER ONE: THE FIGHTING STRAINSHE was a mixture of the unmixable. Not one expert in eighty could have guessed at her breed or breeds.Her coat was like a chow’s, except that it was black and white and tan—as is no chow’s between here and the Chinese Wall. Her deep chest was as wide as a bulldog’s; her queer little eyes slanted like a collie’s; her foreface was like a Great Dane’s, with its barrel muzzle and dewlaps. She was as big as a mastiff.She was Nina, and she belonged to a well-to-do farmer named Shawe, a man who went in for registered cattle, and, as a side line, for prize collies.To clear up, in a handful of words, the mystery of Nina’s breeding, her dam was Shawe’s long-pedigreed and registered and prize-winning tricolour collie, Shawemere Queen. Her sire was Upstreet Butcherboy, the fiercest and gamest and strongest and most murderous pit-terrier ever loosed upon a doomed opponent.Shawe had decided not to breed Shawemere Queen that season. Shawemere Queen had decided differently. Wherefore, she had broken from her enclosure by the simple method of gnawing for three hours at the rotting wood that held a rusty lock-staple.This had chanced to befall on a night when Tug McManus had deputed the evening exercising of Upstreet Butcherboy to a new handy-man. The handy-man did not know Butcherboy’s odd trick of going slack on the chain for a moment and then flinging himself forward with all his surpassing speed and still more surpassing strength.As a result, the man came back to McManus’s alone, noisily nursing three chain-torn fingers. Butcherboy trotted home to his kennel at dawn, stolidly taking the whaling which McManus saw fit to administer.When Shawemere Queen’s six bullet-headed pups came into the world, sixty-three days later, there was loud and lurid blasphemy, at her master’s kennels. Shawe, as soon as he could speak with any degree of coherence, bade his kennelman drown five of the pups at once, and to give like treatment to the sixth as soon as its mother should have no further need of the youngster.At random the kennelman scooped up five-sixths of the litter and strolled off to the horse-pond.CONTENTS. FOREWORDI. BUFF: A COLLIE CHAPTER ONE: THE FIGHTING STRAINCHAPTER TWO: “THE HUNT IS UP!”CHAPTER THREE: MASTERLESS! 80 CHAPTER FOUR: THE END OF THE TRAILII. “SOMETHING”III. CHUMSIV. HUMAN-INTEREST STUFFV. “ONE MINUTE LONGER”VI. THE FOUL FANCIERVII. THE GRUDGEVIII. THE SUNNYBANK COLLIESFOREWORDA swirl of gold-and-white and gray and black,—Rackety, vibrant, glad with life’s hot zest,—Sunnybank collies, gaily surging pack,—These are my chums; the chums that love me best.Not chums alone, but courtiers, zealots, too,—Clean-white of soul, too wise for fraud or sham;Yet senseless in their worship ever new.These are the friendly folk whose god I am.A blatant, foolish, stumbling, purblind god,—A pinchbeck idol, clogged with feet of clay!Yet, eager at my lightest word or nod,They crave but leave to follow and obey.We humans are so slow to understand!Swift in our wrath, deaf to the justice-plea,Meting out punishment with lavish hand!What, but a dog, would serve such gods as we?Heaven gave them souls, I’m sure; but dulled the brain,Lest they should sadden at so brief a spanOf heedless, honest life as they sustain;Or doubt the godhead of their master, Man.Today a pup; to-morrow at life’s prime;Then old and fragile;—dead at fourteen years.At best a meagre little inch of time.Oblivion then, sans mourners, memories, tears!Service that asks no price; forgiveness freeFor injury or for injustice hard.Stanch friendship, wanting neither thanks nor feeSave privilege to worship and to guard:—That is their creed. They know no shrewder wayTo travel through their hour of lifetime here.Would Man but deign to serve his God as they,Millennium must dawn within the Views: 381
Dawn's California baby-sitting club is perfect for her. The We Love Kids Club holds informal meetings, they eat healthy snacks, and they don't keep records. And now, after being interviewed by the local newspaper and TV station, the We Love Kids Club is famous!
But fame is not easy for Dawn and her friends. Their laid-back club is swamped with business. And Dawn's father has just sprung a gigantic - and awful - surprise on her.
Dawn thought that moving back to California was going to be a good thing. But now there's not one good thing about it. Views: 381
Trained from birth in swordplay and combat, a young knight named Siris has journeyed to the Dark Citadel with a single purpose: fight through the army of Titans to face the tyrannical God King in one-on-one combat. This was his father’s sacred mission, and his father’s before him, going back countless generations in an effort to free their people from enslavement. But when Siris somehow succeeds where all those from his bloodline previously have failed, he finds himself cast into a much larger world, filled with warriors and thieves, ancient feuds and shifting alliances, Deathless immortals and would-be kings. His quest for freedom will take him on an epic journey in search of the mythical figure known as the Worker of Secrets—the one being in the world who can unravel the secrets of the Infinity Blade.
Based on the bestselling video game from ChAIR Entertainment and Epic Games, this all-new adventure from acclaimed fantasy author Brandon Sanderson digs deeper into the fantastical world of Infinity Blade, a world of mystery and intrigue where magic and technology are indistinguishable, and even life and death are not what they seem. Views: 381
USA Today Bestselling author, W.J. May brings you a continuation of the international bestselling series, The Chronicles of Kerrigan! Come back and enjoy the famous characters, or step into the series right here. You won't be disappointed!How can you save the future, when someone's slowly unraveling your past?Rae Kerrigan and her friends finally have the lives they've always wanted. Jobs, children, security, no super villains trying to destroy the world—things are about as normal as they can get for a band of superspies. But when someone jumps back into the past and starts messing with their future—everything they've worked so hard to build goes up in smoke.To save their future, the Kerrigan gang must travel back into the past. Using her father's tatu, Rae and the others embark upon a wild time-hopping goose chase as they try to track down this latest threat before things are broken beyond repair.Will they stop the time traveler before things are too late? Can they manage not to lose themselves in the process? More importantly……how far down the rabbit hole are they willing to go?Kerrigan ChroniclesStopping TimePassage of TimeTicking ClockREAD THE WHOLE SERIES:Prequel Series:Christmas Before the MagicQuestion the DarknessInto the DarknessFight the DarknessAlone in the DarknessLost in DarknessThe Chronicles of Kerrigan SeriesRae of HopeDark NebulaHouse of CardsRoyal TeaUnder FireEnd in SightHidden DarknessTwisted TogetherMark of FateStrength & PowerLast One StandingRae of LightThe Chronicles of Kerrigan SequelA Matter of TimeTime PieceSecond ChanceGlitch in TimeOur TimePrecious TimeThe Chronicles of Kerrigan: GabrielLiving in the PastPresent for TodayStaring at the Future Views: 381
Three sixteen year old mismatched best friends inadvertently summon the soul of a lost WW1 teen soldier. Mayhem and madness are the natural result as the four work out you need HEART to solve an old mystery and to be a true friend.Sixteen-year-old Anna Grey has the personality of an online encyclopaedia crossed with a leashed miniature bulldog and she is about to discover that she has a very special gift. The 'gift' doesn't compute well and her orderly little world is about to be turned upside down. Anna is about to discover that she can see the dead ... speak to the dead and crush (blush) on the dead.Meet her two mismatched best friends always annoyingly by her side–Dylan Ray, a drama queen of an undecided nature and Jacqui Van Eden, a fragile butterfly girl. Together they inadvertently summon the soul of an Australian WW1 teenage soldier named Leo. Leo is confused and stuck, pining for a love long while being a bit on the nose.Being amongst the living is becoming harder for Leo to achieve and he is scared that he will dissolve into a bootstrap with an earlobe before his mystery is solved. Armed with their cutting edge IT devices, the trio travel virtually through history to unearth why Leo has one foot in No Man's land and a bum cheek on Anna's good couch. It's going to take more than facts and figures–it's going to require HEART. Views: 381
Now that she knows her true identity, Willow has landed herself in a heap of trouble. Taken prisoner by Callan, King of the Dökkalfar, and jailed as an abomination to the Elven race, Willow struggles to gain her freedom in a world where she is hated. Time is running out for Willow. She must discover her true purpose, changing the fate of two kingdoms. (YA Two-Part Novelette)Now that Willow has met her twin soul and come to terms with who she really is, she is captured by King Callan, Ruler of the Dökkalfar. Jailed as an abomination to the Elven race due to her unnatural creation, Willow struggles to understand the dynamics of this new world and wonders who she can trust in order to gain her freedom once more. However, the prophecy of her kind is clear... She must put an end to the race wars, uniting two kingdoms, but only if she can survive the wrath of a powerful king.Reviews:"I loved the ending…very storybook, which made me smile. This was a very short read which gripped my interest and captivated my attention until the end!" - Nightly Reading Blog"I felt like I discovered a hidden treasure through my Nook. I absolutely loved Weeping Willow." - Josie Epping, Josie's Haven Blog Views: 381
Kai Emery likes to be indiscernible; however, his infatuation for his classmate, Sienna Fynn, has made his invisibility status all the more impossible to upkeep. His world spirals out of control when he discovers that he is a shapeshifting were-leopard, and finds himself unable to control his newfound anatomy. An unpredictable vampire enters his life, leading him down a path that soon reveals his destiny, and discloses another world, filled with magic and terrifying darkness. When he finds himself in danger from the god of magic and darkness for disobeying a curse bestowed upon his kind, forbidding him from falling in love with a human, he has to fight for survival, and protect everyone that he loves. Views: 381
Nita Callahan is at the end of her rope because of the bullies who've been hounding her at school... until she discovers a mysterious library book that promises her the chance to become a wizard. But she has no idea of the difference that taking the Wizard's Oath is going to make in her life. Shortly, in company with fellow beginner-wizard Kit Rodriguez, Nita's catapulted into what will be the adventure of a lifetime -- if she and Kit can both live through it. For every wizard's career starts with an Ordeal in which he or she must challenge the one power in the universe that hates wizardry more than anything else: the Lone Power that invented death and turned it loose in the worlds. Plunged into a dark and deadly alternate New York full of the Lone One's creatures, Kit and Nita must venture into the very heart of darkness to find the stolen, legendary Book of Night with Moon. Only with the dangerous power of the wizardly Book do they have a chance to save not just their own lives, but their world... Views: 381
Karlie: When my mom married Jerry McKesson, I thought my life was over. Jerry's twin sons, Colt and Cain, are insufferable, rude, and arrogant, not to mention football stars. My quiet life as a photographer has been upended because now, I live down the hall from two gorgeous men who do whatever they want. They bring friends over late at night, blast music until the crack of dawn, and of course, there's an endless stream of floozies. The banging noises at night? The creaky headboard and breathy, soundless moans? The twins live to torment me, even if I secretly want to be the object of their affections. Colt: My brother and I couldn't believe it when we met our new stepsister. Karlie was curvy, unassuming, and totally innocent. We figured our nightly escapades would shock the socks off her but looks definitely lie. One night, we take a trip to the big city to "make it rain" with our football buddies. It's a pre-game tradition: we... Views: 381
After hearing the ghostly tale of a mad hunter, two boys take an unexpected part in the old legend.When two boys visit an elderly woman in the village, they are treated to a goose bump inducing ghost story. However, when they return home, they are unexpectedly encountered with the events of the story they'd just been told. Views: 381
Stacey's vacation is full of mishaps when she tells one litle lie which leads to another and another and another. Views: 380
