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The Big-Town Round-Up Summary
The Big-Town Round-Up by William MacLeod Raine is a Western novel published in 1920. It follows the story of Clay Lindsay, a rugged cowboy from Arizona, who ventures into New York City. His mission is to rescue his friend, a naive Westerner who has fallen into bad company in the big city. As Clay navigates the unfamiliar urban landscape, he encounters various challenges and adversaries, bringing his frontier justice to the metropolitan environment. The novel contrasts the values and lifestyles of the Wild West with those of the big city, highlighting themes of loyalty, bravery, and the clash of cultures.
The Big-Town Round-Up Excerpt
Short Summary: Clay Lindsay, an Arizona cowboy, ventures into New York City to rescue a friend, confronting the stark contrasts between Western and urban lifestyles, and bringing his frontier justice to the metropolitan environment.
Excerpt from Chapter I: Concerning a Street Twelve Miles Long
"I like yore outfit," Red Hollister grumbled. "You're nice boys, and good to yore mothers—what few of you ain't wore their gray hairs to the grave with yore frolicsome ways. You know yore business and you got a good cook. But I'm darned if I like this thing of two meals a day, one at a quarter to twelve at night and the other a quarter past twelve, also and likewise at night."
A tenderfoot might have thought that Hollister had some grounds for complaint. For weeks he had been crawling out of his blankets in the pre-dawn darkness of 3 A.M. He had sat shivering down beside a camp-fire to swallow a hurried breakfast and had swung into the saddle while night was still heavy over the land. He had ridden after cattle wild as deer and had wrestled with ladino steers till long after the stars were up. In the chill night he had eaten another meal, rolled up in his blankets, and fallen into instant heavy sleep. And five minutes later—or so at least it seemed to him—the cook had pounded on the triangle for him to get up.
None the less Red's grumbling was a pretense. He would not have been anywhere else for twice the pay. This was what he lived for.
Johnnie Green, commonly known as "the Runt," helped himself to another flank steak. He was not much of a cow-hand, but when it came to eating Johnnie was always conscientiously on the job.
"These here New Yorkers must be awful hardy," he ventured, apropos of nothing. "Seems like they're night birds for fair. Never do go to bed, far as I can make out. They tromp the streets all day and dance at them cabby-rets all night. My feet would be all wore out."
Stace Wallis grinned. "So would my pocketbook. I've heard tell how a fellow can pay as high as four or five dollars for an eat at them places."
"Nothin' to it—nothin' a-tall," pronounced Red dogmatically. Hollister always knew everything. Nothing in the heavens above or the earth below could stump him. The only trouble with his knowledge was that he knew so much that wasn't true. "Can't be did. Do you reckon any o' them New Yorkers could get away with five dollars' worth of ham and aigs? Why, the Runt here couldn't eat more'n a dollar's worth."
"Sure," assented Johnnie. It was the habit of his life to agree with the last speaker. "You're damn whistlin', Red. Why, at the Harvey House they only charge a dollar for a square, and a man couldn't get a better meal than that."
"Onct in Denver, when I went to the stock show, I blowed myself for a meal at the Cambridge Hotel that set me back one-fifty," said Slim Leroy reminiscently. "They et dinner at night."
"They did?" scoffed Johnnie. "Don't they know a fellow eats dinner at noon and supper at night?"
"I ain't noticed any dinner at noon for se-ve-real weeks," Hollister contributed.
"Some feed that," ruminated Leroy, "Some feed that," ruminated Leroy, "but I'd rather be back on the range than anywheres else. A man gets used to livin' out under the stars, and this town life don't set right with me."
Clay Lindsay, listening to the banter of his fellow cowboys, felt the stark contrast between the open range and the bustling city he was about to enter. Soon, he would trade the dust of the West for the concrete of New York, bringing with him the code of the frontier—a sense of justice, loyalty, and self-reliance. The Big Town was waiting, and Clay was ready to meet it head-on.
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