000 02545cam a22003733u 4500
001 76842
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040 _aUtSlPG
041 7 _aen
_2iso639-1
050 4 _aPS
100 1 _aHumphreys, Ray
245 1 0 _aFools and mules
264 1 _aSalt Lake City, UT :
_bProject Gutenberg,
_c2025
300 _a1 online resource :
_bmultiple file formats
336 _atext
_btxt
_2rdacontent
337 _acomputer
_bc
_2rdamedia
338 _aonline resource
_bcr
_2rdacarrier
490 1 _aProduced from the December 27, 1924 issue of Western Story Magazine.
500 _aRelease date is 2025-09-08
508 _aRoger Frank and Sue Clark
520 _a"Fools and mules : [A Shorty McKay story] by Ray Humphreys" is a Western short story written in the early 20th century. Set in the snowbound Sangre de Cristo mountains near Monte Vista, it centers on a perilous winter payroll run and a run-in with a notorious road agent. The likely topic is a frontier adventure that blends danger, irony, and rough humor to test a deputy’s judgment and highlight the surprising worth of a mule. Shorty McKay is tasked with carrying a mine’s payroll through deep snow; he rejects a mule for his trusted horse, Lobo Loco. On a narrow, icy trail he’s held up by Buck Bancroft, who rides a huge white mule, and is forced to ride that mule, bound and captive. A sudden avalanche sweeps Shorty and the mule into a snow pocket, while Lobo Loco turns back, bolts to town, and—by scraping the dozing outlaw off in a stable—delivers Bancroft and the recovered cash to the sheriff. Stranded and helpless, Shorty survives the night as the mule’s relentless braying guides Sheriff Cook’s rescue party to their hidden perch. Humbled, Shorty admits his mistake about “fools and mules,” insists the mule be saved first, and concedes that in a pinch the mule’s noise and stamina were the difference between life and death. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
534 _pOriginally published:
_cNew York: Street & Smith Corporation, 1924
653 _aShort stories
653 _aWestern stories
653 _aOutlaws -- Fiction
653 _aMcKay, Shorty (Fictitious character) -- Fiction
830 0 _aProduced from the December 27, 1924 issue of Western Story Magazine.
856 4 _uhttps://archive.org/details/western-story-v-048-n-05-1924-12-27
856 4 0 _uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76842
999 _c117567
_d117567