Dragons Teeth Crichton 2017 (WWT)

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He was awake for each changing of the guard, and saw Isaac take over from Sternberg at four o’clock in the morning. But eventually fatigue overcame him, and he was soundly asleep when a series of explosions jolted him awake. Isaac was shouting, “Halt! Halt, I say, halt!” as he fired his revolver. They all jumped up. Isaac pointed east across the prairie. “There’s something out there! Can you see it, there’s something out there!” They looked and saw nothing. “I tell you, there’s a man, a lone man!” “Where?” “There! Out there!” They stared at the distant horizon of the plains, and saw nothing at all. Cookie unleashed a stream of epithets. “He’s Injun shy and he’s crazy, too—he’s going to see a red man behind every bush long as we’re out here. We won’t get a lick of sleep.” Cope quietly said that he would take over the watch, and sent the others back to bed. It would be many weeks before they realized that Isaac had been right. If Stinky’s food and Isaac’s guarding left something to be desired, so did Little Wind’s scouting. The Shoshoni brave got them lost for much of the following day. Two hours after they set out, they came across fresh horse manure on the plains. “Indians,” Isaac gasped. Hill snorted in disgust. “Know what that is?” he said. “That’s manure from our horses, that’s what it is.” “That’s impossible.” “You think so? See the wagon tracks over there?” He pointed to faint tracks, where the prairie grass had been pressed down. “You want to bet I put the wheels of this wagon in those tracks and they line up exactly? We’re lost, I tell you.” Cope rode alongside Little Wind. “Are we lost?” “No,” Little Wind said. “Well, what do you expect him to say?” Hill grumbled. “You ever heard an Indian admit he was lost?” “I’ve never heard of an Indian being lost,” Sternberg said. “Well, we got one here, purchased at great expense,” Hill said. “You mark my words, he’s never been in this part of the country before, no matter what he says. And he’s lost, no matter what he says.” For Johnson, the conversation filled him with strange dread. All day they had been riding under the great bowl of the sky, across uniformly flat country, a great vista without landmarks except for the occasional isolated tree or line of cottonwoods that marked a creek. It was truly a “sea of grass,” and like the sea it was trackless and vast. He began to understand why everyone in the West talked so familiarly of certain landmarks—Pompey’s Pillar, Twin Peaks, Yellow Cliffs. These few recognizable features were islands in the wide ocean of the prairie, and knowledge of their locations was essential for survival. Johnson rode alongside Toad. “Can we really be lost?” Toad shook his head. “Indians are born here. They can read the land in ways we can’t begin to imagine. We’re not lost.” “Well, we’re going south,” Hill grumbled, staring at the sun. “Why’re we going south, when every
man here knows that the Judith lands are east? Can someone tell me that?” The next two hours were tense, until finally they came upon an old wagon track running east. Little Wind pointed. “This road for wagons to Judith lands.” “That’s what the problem was,” Toad said. “He’s not used to traveling with a wagon, and he had to find the track for our wagon to use.” “The problem,” Hill said, “is that he doesn’t know the country.” “He knows this country,” Sternberg said. “This is the Indian hunting lands we’re in now.” They rode on in sober silence.
Page 4 and 5: Contents Cover Endpaper Title Page
Page 6 and 7: Introduction As he appears in an ea
Page 8 and 9: Young Johnson Joins the Field Trip
Page 10 and 11: Marsh Professor Marsh kept offices
Page 12 and 13: The name had an extraordinary effec
Page 14 and 15: Learning Photography Johnson wanted
Page 16 and 17: Philadelphia Philadelphia was the b
Page 18 and 19: puffed-up, brave, and determined to
Page 20 and 21: “Really? Most families wish to me
Page 22 and 23: wealthy Quaker merchant, left him m
Page 24 and 25: “I have made inquiries about that
Page 26 and 27: informed of this by Red Cloud himse
Page 28 and 29: Going West The Chicago and North We
Page 30 and 31: The West Beyond Omaha the real West
Page 32 and 33: town, it was, noted Johnson, “a c
Page 34 and 35: The Pride De Paree Theater was a tw
Page 36 and 37: “I’ll be back, though.” “Wh
Page 38 and 39: “Oh yes, Mr. Johnson,” said the
Page 40 and 41: Cope’s Expedition It was immediat
Page 42 and 43: Established thirty years before, Sa
Page 44 and 45: e rejoining her husband; indeed, sh
Page 46 and 47: His personal style—his long curly
Page 48 and 49: Part II The Lost World
Page 52 and 53: Incidents on the Plains In the midd
Page 54 and 55: Sternberg went out and shot an ante
Page 56 and 57: Badlands The Judith River, a tribut
Page 58 and 59: “I said, ‘I bid you welcome and
Page 60 and 61: that the nomadic Indian lives a fre
Page 62 and 63: Bone Country With these preliminary
Page 64 and 65: potential discoveries lying in wait
Page 66 and 67: cooks it,” Isaac grumbled). Rathe
Page 68 and 69: In 1871, Lord Kelvin, the most emin
Page 70 and 71: Bad Water Cope chose his campsites
Page 72 and 73: They rode on. The sun dropped behin
Page 74 and 75: Dinner with Cope and Marsh The sear
Page 76 and 77: “Very true.” “Though you neve
Page 78 and 79: “Sleep with Your Guns Tonight, Bo
Page 80 and 81: Moving Camp In early August, they w
Page 82 and 83: “Just wait and see,” Cookie sai
Page 84 and 85: “Of these rocks?” Johnson asked
Page 86 and 87: Around the Campfire Any discovery l
Page 88 and 89: Leaving the Badlands The morning of
Page 90 and 91: I am dreadfully ashamed of what occ
Page 92 and 93: Part III Dragon Teeth
Page 94 and 95: they reach us.” “You boys go ri
Page 96 and 97: Badlands Silence, under a waning mo
Page 98 and 99: Little Wind said nothing. “What a
Page 100 and 101:
Deadwood Deadwood presented a bleak
Page 102 and 103:
he thought. Then he finished fillin
Page 104 and 105:
Laramie and Cheyenne?” “That’
Page 106 and 107:
“He moved old Jake when the carri
Page 108 and 109:
“So I expect you’ll have to get
Page 110 and 111:
The Black Hills Art Gallery “How
Page 112 and 113:
But it was also the beginning of tr
Page 114 and 115:
His whole manner changed. “Then y
Page 116 and 117:
For his part, Black Dick claimed to
Page 118 and 119:
“I got to pack,” Johnson said,
Page 120 and 121:
No one in town who knew Dick would
Page 122 and 123:
already been to Montana City and Cr
Page 124 and 125:
“Fossil bones are rock.” “The
Page 126 and 127:
Emily’s News “It’s no good,
Page 128 and 129:
All around him, the hotel was silen
Page 130 and 131:
“I am sure of it,” the judge sa
Page 132 and 133:
“Yes. Ling Chow has tool shed, ve
Page 134 and 135:
A Shootout Black Dick showed up in
Page 136 and 137:
Keep your eyes on him. Never take y
Page 138 and 139:
had hired Kang to help him again, s
Page 140 and 141:
Deadwood for the winter, but said t
Page 142 and 143:
“Only a damn fool would think so,
Page 144 and 145:
Johnson and Miss Emily ducked down.
Page 146 and 147:
Red Canyon They reached the town of
Page 148 and 149:
Fort Laramie Fort Laramie was an ar
Page 150 and 151:
“Well, you’ve just come from De
Page 152 and 153:
“How can you say that? Look at hi
Page 154 and 155:
other pursuits of no substance.”
Page 156 and 157:
“Of course.” “Really?” “D
Page 158 and 159:
“I don’t see why not. She says
Page 160 and 161:
At eight the next morning, feeling
Page 162 and 163:
His father embraced him warmly. “
Page 164 and 165:
Postscript Cope Edward Drinker Cope
Page 166 and 167:
Author’s Note “Biography,” ob
Page 168 and 169:
Afterword Michael’s dedication to
Page 170 and 171:
Taft, Robert. Photography and the A
Page 172 and 173:
Also by Michael Crichton Fiction Th
Page 175 and 176:
Copyright This book is a work of fi
Page 177:
* Editor’s note: Charles H. Stern
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