What to expect from a Full Moon

 Money is always important in the solution of Blandings impasses, but here it is ubiquitous. Not only do Bill's and Prue's problems require a fiscal solution, but the hopes of the Wedges are shaped by Tipton Plimsoll's fortune, Freddie Threepwood pursues an immense dogfood order like some Ahab hunting a mercantile Moby Dick, and in the end Lord Emsworth must literally purchase his peace of mind.

Only Galahad and his spiritual sister, the Empress, rise above the mercenary approach, the great pig responding solely to simple greed and the aging rake moved by sympathy for star-crossed love and a pure, almost ascetic devotion to creating maximum chaos.

(from the Preface to P. G. Wodehouse's Full Moon, written by D. R. Benson)

Cutting it thin

         Mabry began to eject shells from his gun and to reload. Only a solitary bullet had remained in his gun. As he loaded up there was absolute silence. He was conscious then of the cottonwood leaves whispering in the cool morning air. He was conscious that his cheek stung and that otherwise he was unwounded.

    Once more he had come through. How many breaks could a man get?

(from Heller With a Gun, by Louis L'Amour)

Trust your instincts

     "You're borrowing trouble, King. They'd be afraid to attempt anything now.

    He did not argue, yet King Mabry had that old, uneasy feeling. The whole woods out there were dark, but they did not feel empty, and the hunted man learns to trust his senses. On too many occasions they had saved his life.

(from Heller With a Gun, by Louis L'Amour)

Lost on the landscape

 Day after day the wagons had plodded on, and day after day the snow-covered hills fell behind, the streams were crossed, the lonely camps abandoned to the wilderness. And day after day she seemed to dwindle, to grow less. The vans were tiny things, their bright-colored sides tawdry in the stillness and snow. All was immensity where they seemed to crawl at a snail's pace into the vastness beyond belief.

(from Heller With a Gun, by Louis L'Amour)

Had something else to do

 His shoulders filled the doorway as he went out. For several minutes after he was gone nobody said anything.

"Knew him in Dodge," Williams said suddenly, "and again in Utah. He's salty."

"Has he really killed so many men?"

"He has. Killed one at Doan's store. Fellow name of Les Benham was going to cut Mabry's herd. Mabry said he wasn't."

"Did they cut it?"

"Too busy burying Les Benham."

(from Heller With a Gun, by Louis L'Amour)

He must have overestimated

     "Come far?"

    "No."

    The hostler puffed on his pipe. He had never seen this man before and it was indiscreet to ask questions, but the hostler was a curious man - and he knew that beat-up buckskin.

    He gestured. "Ain't in good shape."

    "Better shape than the man who rode him."

    Griffin, the hostler remembered, was considered a very salty customer in some circles. He must have cut himself into the wrong circle.

(from Heller With a Gun, by Louis L'Amour)

Instincts

     The hunter and the hunted - these two are kin. Their senses are alert to the same stimuli, awaken in the same far-off sounds. A shadow in the wrong place, a flicker of sun reflection, a creak of leather - each may be a warning.

    And for these things and a thousand others the senses of hunter and hunted are alert. Often the exact warning is not recognized; it is a subconscious perception.

    So King Mabry now waited for the snow veil to break once more. He had learned to trust his instincts. Attention might lag, reason might fail, but the instincts were first born and would be the last to die.

(from Heller with a Gun, by Louis L'Amour)