Read Online Freddy the Cowboy by Walter R. Brooks - Free Book Online

“I guess it’s all right. Only go kind of easy. It never does to carry a joke too far. Somebody might get hurt.”
    So the rabbit thanked him, and then as he and Cy started on up through the woods, the ten Horribles started back towards the Bean farm, marching two by two, and singing as they went:
    â€œOh, horrible indeed are we;
    To look at we are awful!
    We shout and howl and yell with glee
    When doing deeds unlawful.
    So let our enemies beware,
    And hide in caves and cellars,
    For when we catch one by the hair,
    We pinch him till he bellers.
    â€œOh, we are the Ten, the Horrible Ten,
    Bears, when they hear us, cower in their den,
    Elephants tremble, and lions shudder—
    Hide their heads and yell for their mudder.”
    The sound died away. “Those dopes are going to get into trouble,” said Quik.
    â€œThey can run pretty fast,” said Freddy. “We’ve got troubles of our own to worry about. There are the ranch house lights through the trees.”

Chapter 7
    At the edge of the open fields Freddy dismounted and unsaddled Cy, and the pony trotted on down towards the house. It was getting so dark now that there wasn’t much chance of his being noticed, and if he was, nobody would be surprised to see another horse wandering around. As it happened, he made the rescue easily; the trap with the squirrel inside it had been hung up in the cookhouse, and Cy just lifted it down and brought it back to Freddy in his teeth.
    â€œThis guy wants to make a deal with you,” Cy said. “Tell him, squirrel.”
    So Taffy stuck his nose against the wires of the cage and rolled his eyes mournfully at Freddy, and said: “Oh, Mr. Pig—good kind Mr. Pig, I shall always be grateful to you for saving me from being a pot pie, and my heart is full of gratitude—”
    Freddy interrupted him. “Don’t call me Mr. Pig! My name is Freddy. And you can save your gratitude because my heart is full of disgust. We rescued you because we didn’t want you made into a rather inferior stew, but you’re staying in that cage until we can ship you out of the state.”
    â€œOh,” said the squirrel. And then he shrugged his shoulders and said: “Very well, my friend; very well. I was going to give you some important information in exchange for my freedom. But of course if the safety of your bank means nothing to you—”
    â€œIf you’re talking about the First Animal Bank,” Freddy said, “bandits have made several attempts to rob it in the past. They didn’t succeed. I’m not worried about anything Mr. Flint could do.”
    Taffy looked at him in amazement. “How did you know about that?” he demanded.
    Of course Freddy didn’t know about any plan of Mr. Flint’s. But he remembered how suspicious he had been of the man’s interest in the bank, and he guessed that Taffy had heard something at the ranch about it.
    â€œMy goodness,” he said, “what kind of a detective do you think I’d be if I didn’t know about such things?”
    Quik had climbed up to Freddy’s shoulder. “Hey, quit bluffing, will you, pig?” he whispered. “Find out what the guy knows. Remember I have fourteen cents as well as a sack of cheese rinds in your darned old bank.”
    Freddy said to Taffy: “I know pretty well what they’re up to. There are one or two details, however, that I have not yet learned. So that if you want to tell me what you know I might—mind you, I’m only saying that I might —let you go free. Under certain conditions, of course.”
    Taffy asked what details he wanted to know.
    â€œI want to know when Flint plans to rob the bank, and I want to know who is in it with him.”
    â€œYou call those ‘details’?” Taffy demanded. “I call it the whole story. And if you want it, you’ll have to pay for it by turning me loose.”
    â€œI