Author
Ray Humphreys
Read free books by Ray Humphreys on Rivro. Explore public-domain classics and related works.
Subjects
Books by Ray Humphreys
Fools and mules : $b [A Shorty McKay story]
"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.
One jump ahead
"One jump ahead by Ray Humphreys" is a Western short story with a crime‑mystery bent, written in the late 1920s. It follows a small‑town sheriff and his deputy as they investigate a mysterious box dug up beneath a bridge, a puzzle that stirs rumors of buried loot and raises the stakes amid local political pressures. Paroled rustler Manuel Perez comes to Sheriff Joe Cook seeking help just as old Grandpa McMeel reports two men digging under the Third Street bridge, a sight that Fred Speers hurriedly “confirms.” The officers find a trench and a dragged trail that vanishes in the creek, and later the sheriff discovers a wallet with a clipping about an old bank robbery—apparently proof the stolen loot was recovered. With the commissioners fretting over elections, the case seems hopeless, but Shorty McKay grows suspicious: Perez’s early release timing doesn’t match his story, the drag marks could hide a peg‑leg footprint, and Speers’s planted clipping points to a staged misdirection. Checking the newspaper files, Shorty finds the clipping freshly cut, then confronts Perez at his new ranch job and recovers a bundle of cash. The truth emerges: Perez and Speers dug up Perez’s own rustling proceeds buried years earlier, not bank loot. Shorty lays out the scheme, the money is seized, and the sheriff’s standing—and reelection prospects—are saved.
A knife in time
A knife in time by Ray Humphreys is a Western short story written in the early 20th century. It centers on frontier mule-skinning, workplace rivalry, and a public wagon-race where a scorned driver’s knife and nerve become crucial. Tom Morgan, a slight but gifted mule skinner, is mocked by fellow teamsters for wearing a sheath knife, despite the wagon boss McCarthy valuing his skill. When the Q B outfit brings five polished hitches to a rodeo race overseen by the owner, Ashton, the event turns dangerous: Ashton’s borrowed sorrel mule bolts, dragging him by a caught stirrup straight into the path of the racing wagons. Morgan leaps from his seat, scrambles along his moving hitch, mounts a leader, and slices that mule free to chase the runaway. His driverless team collides with another, killing a mule and injuring a driver, but Morgan presses on, transfers to the sorrel at speed, and cuts Ashton loose just in time. In the aftermath, Morgan explains he carries the knife after once losing mules he might have saved; Ashton, grateful and alive, ends the crew’s prejudice and promotes Morgan to assistant wagon boss.