I need to get a hold of some of those books—especially the Sackett series. I remember reading them and thinking how incredibly cool the Sackett boys were. Here are a couple favorite LL moments, stories I still tell:
1. I remember a story in which the bad guy feels something punch him and when he looks down at his stomach he notices a shirt button is missing. Then he hears the distant report of a rifle and realizes he’s been shot. The hero (one of the Sacketts, I suppose) has made the button disappear by driving it into him in a spectacular example of marksmanship. I still remember how I reacted when I read that scene: what a great shot, and what a great shooter! Cool as a cucumber. Why can't I be a cowboy?
2. I remember another story in which the main character is sitting by the fire at night, but he won’t look into the flames. Naturally, all the city slickers would—because we're dopes. Our Western Hero won't look into or even at the fire because he wants his eyes to adjust to the darkness quickly, if need be. Adjusting your eyesight from the brightness of the flame to the darkness outside the firelight would be difficult, and a shooter who waste those precious moments could find himself dead on the ground next to his precious campfire. That’s another “western tip” I remember. Of course, it’s one I’ll probably never use. But I know it if I need it, and G.I. Joe says that knowing is half the battle.
Today’s directive: get acquainted with Louis L’Amour.
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