Weird West 04 - The Doctor and the Dinosaurs Read Online Free PDF

draining his glass. “There's no reason for you to get involved, Theodore. This proposition is a loser from the start.”
    “That's all the more reason why I'm coming along,” said Roosevelt.
    Holliday stared at him. “Even though I probably can't convince them to pack up and dig somewhere else?”
    “Precisely because of it.”
    “You don't seem to be listening to what I'm saying,” persisted Holliday. “If Geronimo's right, the whole area could get overrun by these monsters.”
    “I know,” said Roosevelt, flashing Holliday a toothy grin. “And we'll be the first men to see them. It'll be bully—just bully!”

“S O, WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING FOR THE PAST YEAR ?” asked Roosevelt as he and Holliday rode north and west. Neither was happy with their steeds. Holliday hated all horses, and Roosevelt felt that the gelding he'd bought at the Cheyenne stable was far inferior to his beloved Manitou, a fact that became increasingly apparent as the land began getting hillier and more heavily forested.
    “Dying, mostly,” answered Holliday. “And you?”
    “You are not the cheeriest man I ever met,” said Roosevelt.
    “Or the healthiest.”
    “Granted,” said Roosevelt. “Anyway, I've been dividing my time between my ranches in the Dakota Badlands and finishing Sagamore Hill.”
    “What's that?” asked Holliday.
    “The New York home where I plan to spend the rest of my life,” replied Roosevelt. “I've been working on it—well, having it worked on—on and off for the past two years. It should be just about ready in a few more months.”
    “Big place?”
    “Reasonably.”
    “And you a single man again. Sounds lonely.”
    “I don't intend to remain single too much longer. And I won't be alone anyway. My daughter and her nursemaid will be with me.” He paused and smiled. “She's more than a year old now. That'll help fill the house. And,” he added, “I plan to marry again. I don't think people were meant to live alone.”
    “Try hooking up with Kate Elder and then tell me that,” replied Holliday with a wry grin.
    “The notorious Big-Nose Kate?” asked Roosevelt. “Didn't she break you out of jail when you were incarcerated on a trumped-up charge?”
    “She couldn't nag and curse at me while I was in jail,” answered Holliday. “I'd rather face John Wesley Hardin any day.”
    Roosevelt laughed. “All right,” he conceded. “ Some men weren't meant to live alone. And I'm one of them.”
    “Got anyone picked out?”
    Roosevelt nodded. “My childhood sweetheart.” He chuckled. “I say that as if a ten-year-old knows what a sweetheart is. Anyway, she's Edith Kermit Carow, and as soon as I get the Dakota ranches sorted out, and finish a pair of books I've contracted to write, I plan to ask her hand in marriage.”
    “So are you going to be a writer now?”
    “Too limiting,” said Roosevelt.
    “So you're going to go back to ornithology and taxidermy, too?”
    “I never went away from them,” answered Roosevelt. “You know, I was the youngest minority leader in the history of the New York legislature. I think I may try my hand at politics again.”
    “I'd vote for you,” said Holliday.
    “Not until I ran for President and you moved to a state that waspart of the Union,” replied Roosevelt with a laugh. “But all that's for when I go back East. Right now what I'm most interested in is learning about paleontology.”
    “I'd never heard of it till last week,” said Holliday.
    “With all due respect, you don't speak to a lot of college-educated people out here.”
    “True,” admitted Holliday. A vision of Johnny Ringo crossed his mind. “And I killed the only one I knew.”
    “I heard about that,” said Roosevelt. “Anyway, I want to talk to one or both of these men. For example, there's a femur—a leg bone—that's taller than I am. How did they know where to look for it? How did they figure out what the dinosaur looked like just from that one bone? How long did these